Autonomous warriors: British Army seeks to integrate unmanned platforms

Like other major armed forces, the British Army is systematically seeking to incorporate advanced autonomous unmanned platforms into its formations.

Future Soldier

The British Army operates numerous unmanned systems. Major applications include explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), as well as aspects of intelligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance (ISTAR). The extensive current inventory includes the man-portable Dragon Runner reconnaissance and EOD UGV (in service since 2010), Tarantula-Hawk micro air vehicle for EOD reconnaissance (2010), Thales Watchkeeper WK450 UAV used for ISTAR (2014), and the T7 bomb disposal UGV (2018).

As the Ministry of Defence (MoD) sees it, this is just the beginning. As the then Chief of the Army General Staff, Gen. Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, said in 2018, preparing for the 21st Century battlefield will require a more proactive, threat-based approach to capability planning. This includes “placing some big bets on those technologies that we judge may offer exponential advantage because given the pace of the race, to fall behind today is to cede an almost unquantifiable advantage from which it might be impossible to recover”.

The Future Soldier project initiated in March 2021 – which is viewed as the most radical change for the British Army in two decades – aims to prepare the service for the next-generation battlefield. This includes organisational reforms and new operational concepts, but also lays a premium on integration of artificial intelligence (AI), advanced unmanned systems and networking. Robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) – including uncrewed ground vehicles (UGV) and tactical uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) – are considered particularly promising as force multipliers. Human-machine teaming (HMT) is expected to facilitate distributed operations over greater distances, providing smaller-sized units with enhanced combat power. In September 2021, the MoD formally pronounced RAS integration to be an important element of the Future Soldier concept, augmenting current capabilities with a network of new sensors and effectors.

To support these efforts, the MoD has refined the necessary test and evaluation infrastructure, with an emphasis on hands-on experience by combat and combat support forces. In March 2021, the Cyprus-based 2nd Bn, Yorkshire Regt (2YORKS) was selected as the Army’s Experimentation Battalion. Reinforced by combat support and combat service support specialists from across the field army, the battalion functions as a Next Generation Combat Team in support of combined arms manoeuvre force development. The unit tests all new and conceptual equipment being offered to the Army, from weapon sights to robots, and evaluates concepts of operation which will optimise the new technology’s utility. As described by the Army, the Experimentation Battalion is at the cutting edge of human-machine integration, defining the architecture for how the service fights on the future battlefield. In 2022, the Army’s Experimental and Trials Group (ETG) was activated. 2YORKS forms the ETG’s core, augmented by specialist trials and development units.

Army warfighting experiment series

However, the modernisation drive – marked both by procurement and experimentation – predates the Future Soldier initiative. The Urban Experimentation (URBEX) programme – launched in 2009 – was succeeded in 2017 by the Army Warfighter Experiment (AWE) series of annual exercises. AWE is the service’s premier innovation programme, focusing on teaming soldiers with AI-enabled machines. It is conducted in close cooperation with industry to identify and evaluate current and emerging technologies for their operational potential.

Each year’s AWE is split into three levels. Level A consists of industry proposing equipment they believe is suitable to meeting problems set by the AWE team. Level B constitutes a basic safety testing of the equipment the AWE team decides to include in Level C, the experimentation phase. The Level C integrated assessment – normally conducted in November – follows a year of interaction between the Army and industry partners, and involves an intense field experiment by soldiers utilising the selected kit.

AWE’s stated goal is to inform investment decisions and find capabilities suitable for rapid exploitation. Soldier feedback has become an invaluable aspect of the exercises, confirming or refuting a particular system’s utility under real world circumstances; this feedback flows directly back to industry, which can adjust otherwise viable technology to better meet operator requirements. According to the MoD, these real-world demonstrations have helped accelerate several uncrewed air and ground systems into the Field Army.

Each year’s AWE has a specific focus. The AWE in 2018 ran under the designation Exercise Autonomous Warrior – Land. It focused on HMT, pairing soldiers with AI-enabled and autonomous machines to enhance operational effectiveness. Mission capabilities tested included autonomous last-mile resupply missions across the dangerous final approach to the combat zone; deploying autonomous systems in the ISTAR role to enhance long-range and precision targeting by the manned force; and developing a digital backbone to ensure seamless communication between different systems and platforms.

The AI-based progress made during AWE 2018 flowed into subsequent exercise events. The 2019 and 2020 iterations provided insights into current levels of robotic autonomy, as well as digital connectivity between a broad array of systems and platforms. The 2020 exercise in particular focused on Agile Command, Control and Communication, but covered a broad scope of battlefield headquarters issues ranging from deployable infrastructure, data aggregation and analytics to headquarters resilience and decision support.

In 2021, the MoD announced that AWE was moving to a multi-year format, providing industry partners longer engagement opportunities and more thorough collaboration with the Army, as well as with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (Dstl) and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the procurement arm of the Ministry of Defence. The military anticipates that this will lead to development of cutting-edge concepts into demonstrators and then field-ready systems more rapidly than was previously possible.

AWE – Urban Series

The 2022-2024 AWE cycle is focused on urban operations with an eye to optimising brigade, battle group, and sub-echelon units’ capabilities in this challenging environment. Each year’s experimentation centres around a particular tactical function. These various areas of concentration will be integrated for the final Urban Series experiment to be conducted in late 2024.

The 2022 iteration (AWE 22) was conducted at Portsmouth Naval Base as a proxy urban setting and ran under the headings of ‘Sustain’ and ‘Protect’. ‘Sustain’ focused on intelligent logistics, medical extraction and vehicle extraction using autonomous systems, while ‘Protect’ focused on physical and non-physical protection, including counter-UAV (C-UAV) applications. Of the 159 systems originally submitted for consideration by industry, only 20 were ultimately selected for the Level C event conducted in November 2022. Among the more attention-grabbing tests, an electrically-propelled Hydra XL 300 drone demonstrated the ability to airlift simulated casualty payloads of 120 kg over a range of up to 25 km. Smaller drones were used to ferry blood plasma and other medical supplies across the simulated battlefield.

The following year, AWE 23 tested more than 40 systems by 35 (mostly British) suppliers. The exercise was conducted in November 2023 by 2YORKS on Salisbury Plain, running under the designation AWE Blunt and Dislocate (AWE B and D) and focused on manoeuvre supported by fires and information activities within an urban environment. The Army’s stated goal for AWE B and D was to “examine how a future land force can maximise advantage in the ‘first battle’ by blunting an enemy’s advance with organic and long-range firepower, whilst also finding and striking to drive home an early culmination. Concurrently, the experiment [explored] how a future land force can dislocate the enemy throughout his depth, with ‘counter kill-chain’ at its core.” Systems evaluated ranged from the Black Hornet 4 Nano-UAV for short-range and indoor reconnaissance, to the Hydra XL 400 jet-powered heavy-lift VTOL UAV which was ‘armed’ with three dummy Brimstone air-to-ground missiles. The XL 400 can be transported in the field on a pick-up truck-sized flatbed and made flight ready within six minutes, providing small units a nearly instantaneous heavy lift (400 kg) transport or strike platform. UGVs were also put through their paces.

AWE 24, also designated AWE Integrate, is focused on command and intelligence hypotheses. It will also bring in industry partners from previous phases of the AWE Urban Series for the cumulative event. The Level C final experiment of AWE 2024 – and of the entire Urban Series – is scheduled for October 2024. Overall the results of the Urban Series are expected to demonstrate future force requirements, and inform the MoD’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) which is scheduled for 2025 as a comprehensive update to the national security and military policy.

Capstone 4

Detachments from Allied nations’ test and development units routinely participate in the AWE series. This permits British and partner forces to learn from one another’s progress, but – even more importantly – also ensures that technology and operational concepts will be interoperable in the field. This collaboration works in both directions. Some 600 British Army soldiers (alongside Allied forces from six partner nations) participated in the Project Convergence Capstone 4 war-fighting experiment sponsored by the US Army in California in February-March 2024.

The event focused on joint multi-domain operations conducted by US and international partners. Cutting edge technologies were evaluated in realistic scenarios, with a focus on networking systems optimised to accelerate and facilitate the so-called ‘sensor-decider-effector-sustainer’ kill chain. Approximately half of the British contingent was dispatched by the Army’s Experimental and Trials Group. The ETG deployed a Robotics and Autonomous Systems enhanced Battlegroup including engineers, artillery, electronic warfare (EW) assets and UAVs. The unit deployed UGVs and UAVs to support ISR operations. UGVs with mounted machine guns were also included in the exercise, providing fire support for dismounted forces.

A “Software-Defined and Data-Centric Force”

AWE aside, evaluation and procurement of new and updated uncrewed systems progresses under various individual programmes. These include:

Robotic Platoon Vehicle (RPV): This is a multiphase experiment to assess the operational benefits of UGVs and facilitate integration of advanced robotics and autonomous systems into platoon-level ground operations. Testing has been performed through integration at the unit level (2YORKS) as well as during the course of the AWE. UGVs are being considered for a broad array of purposes including autonomous and semi-autonomous platoon equipment transport, frontline resupply, casualty evacuation, ISTAR, and weapons platform. Systems tested under the RPV programme include the Multiple-Utility Tactical Transport (MUTT) vehicles developed by GDELS, and various configurations of the swarm-capable Rheinmetall Mission Master SP UGV. The AI-equipped UGVs can follow their unit without being directly controlled, or autonomously navigate difficult terrain to conduct ISTAR or resupply missions. The final seven Mission Master vehicles were ordered in April 2022 for the third and final spiral of the RPV programme. Following the conclusion of the third spiral of the RPV programme, RAS experimentation will continue through the Army’s Expeditionary Robotics Centre of Expertise (ERCoE).

ERCoE: Formed in May 2021 by DE&S and the Army, ERCoE is conceived as a central hub for conducting and coordinating key defence robotics and autonomous systems projects. Aside from the RPV programme, these include nano-UAVs, autonomous resupply of forward troops and additional HMT development. ERCoE is managed by the Future Capability Group (FCG) at DE&S. The inclusion of both DE&S and the Army ensures that end-user perspectives are consistently considered during evaluation.

Project Tequila: Lockheed Martin is the systems integrator for this effort to equip small military formations with state-of-the-art ISTAR-capable small UAVs (SUAVs). In 2022, the MoD ordered 159 Indago 4 quadcopters and 105 fixed-wing Stalker VXE30 drones under the Tequila programme. Weighing 2.27 and 20 kg respectively, these AI-driven SUAVs will have significantly improved range and endurance as well as more capable sensors and processors than the UAVs they replace. The MoD expects first units to be operational by late 2024.

Outside of the Tequila framework, the DE&S’ Future Capability Group ordered Elbit Magni-X micro-UAVs in January 2023 for delivery to specialist Army units. The procurement serves the Army’s HMT initiative. While of shorter endurance than the Indago 4, the Magni-X is swarm capable, enabling cooperative enhance short-range reconnaissance and support combat missions.

Armed SUAVs: In May 2023, the MoD issued a request for information (RfI) regarding options for an armed SUAV for the Army. The objective systems would have a maximum take-off weight (including payload) of 350 grammes and a minimum 20 minutes of flight endurance.

UAS Group: In September 2023, the British Army announced the formation of a new uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) group to be established under the Joint Aviation Command (JAC). As defined by General Sir Patrick Sanders, former Army Chief of General Staff, this move “will bring deep, deep expertise and the coherence that the new defence uncrewed strategy requires” and “provide a focal point for industry around which we intend to develop the next generation of UAS platforms in even closer partnership”.

The new aircraft are to feature advancements in autonomy, endurance, and payload capabilities. The enhanced aerial platforms are to provide real-time situational awareness and targeting through ISTAR missions, as well as supporting ground forces through direct delivery of payloads. The UAS Group will also be tasked with: establishing comprehensive training programmes for UAV operators and developing new doctrines to effectively integrate UAVs into military operations; ensuring that UAVs are fully compatible with existing command and communications systems (including at the joint and coalition level); evolving concepts of operations which will expand the boundaries of what UAVs can achieve and contribute to the force.

Hardware is only part of the picture. Sanders stressed the importance of software and data as the drivers of future operational capability, noting that the Army was pursuing more than 25 data projects in close cooperation with industry. Over the next decade, all of the Army’s deployable digital systems are to be modernised; this includes command, control, communications and information systems as well as ISTAR capabilities. The Army stresses that networking of systems, soldiers, vehicles and weapons – including network integration with Allied forces – will be a prerequisite for effective future operations. “The army’s approach to data will define our ability to adopt artificial intelligence at pace and scale for whole force benefit,” he said, adding that the British Army is to be made a “software-defined and data-centric force.”

UK Defence Drone Strategy

In February 2024, the MoD announced the UK Defence Drone Strategy in order to deliver a unified approach to uncrewed systems not only for the Army but across all three military services. The programme is to run for ten years with a minimum budget of GBP 4.5 billion. The goal is to accelerate fielding of uncrewed land, air and sea systems. According to the MoD, it will enable rapid experimentation, testing and evaluation of uncrewed platforms for all services, coordinated by the UK Strategic Command in cooperation with industry.

Once operational, the systems will be continuously developed and upgraded to stay aligned with the fast-paced advancements in technology and the evolving threat landscape, the MoD said in a February 2024 statement. “Rapidly being able to develop and upgrade uncrewed systems will be key to gaining battlefield advantage and we must seize this opportunity to grow and sustain such skills and capabilities in the UK,” said the former Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge. “Ultimately, this is about learning the lessons from the Ukrainian frontline to procure drones at scale for the UK’s Armed Forces.”

Sidney E. Dean