From Ukraine to the Middle East, drones and other unmanned systems are playing an increasingly visible role in modern warfare. Nations are quickly competing to integrate AI tech into everyday military operations to eliminate human risk while improving overall efficiency in the field.
One example of that development is based in Seattle, Washington.
Late June, defense-tech company Overland AI announced it had secured a roughly $20 million dollar production contract with the U.S. Marine Corps for autonomous unmanned ground vehicles, or AUGVs, with delivery expected in early 2027.
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“This is a vote of confidence from the Marines that the technology that we have is ready for the mission,” said Greg Okopal, Co-Founder and COO of Overland AI.
The Marine Corps tells FOX the goal is to use the vehicles for missions such as moving ammunition and supplies while reducing risk to Marines.
The award came through APFIT, the Pentagon’s Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies program, using a production Other Transaction Agreement, or OTA. APFIT was started in fiscal year 2022 to help move proven technologies into military use faster. The program is designed to speed up production and shorten the procurement process, essentially helping cut through some of the red tape.
The tech is being developed to support the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, designed initially to focus on autonomous logistics, including ammunition resupply, in contested environments. Okopal says Overland’s work falls under the Marine Corps’ ground-based air defense program, “…which is really sort of a disparate array of vehicle-mounted sensors and effectors that can protect from various UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) and other airborne threats.”
But why the investment in ground autonomy?
Overland AI argues while aerial drones and other unmanned systems have become increasingly important on the battlefield, “wars are still won on the ground.” Describing the growing role of unmanned or autonomous ground vehicles, Overland AI Chief of Staff Chris Merz pointed to Ukraine, where he says the technology is being used more and more for combat.
“They started with using them for sustainment but increasingly you’re seeing them used in combat operations, taking and holding terrain…I really think that is the future application of uncrewed and autonomous ground vehicles and we’ll start to see that more in future conflicts.”
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Unlike remotely operated ground vehicles, Overland’s system is designed to navigate and execute missions fully autonomously, without a human continuously steering the vehicle or even controlling it remotely. “Our vehicles, you task them with a mission, you press execute, those vehicles will execute that mission whether you have communications with them or not, whether you’re paying attention to them or not, they are fully autonomous,” Okopal explained.
Overland says its vehicles can also operate beyond the line of sight and in GPS-denied environments, executing an assigned mission even when communications are unavailable. “All battlefields now are electronic, contested environments, right? So you cannot necessarily rely on distant comms to complete your mission,” Okopal explained.
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The vehicles are designed to perceive their surroundings and navigate off-road terrain, including obstacles such as ditches, inclines and boulders. Rather than solely directional focused capabilities, the AI technology behind it is more mission focused. For example, an entire fleet of vehicles can be programmed with the mission to establish surveillance and reconnaissance around specific coordinates, manage threat response, etc.
“The very important thing is getting Marines and soldiers for the Army as well out of danger,” Okopal explained.
The Marine Corps shared this statement with FOX:
“The U.S. Marine Corps Program Manager Ground-Based Air Defense (PM GBAD) has awarded an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement to Overland AI to develop and procure Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (AUGVs). Designed to sustain the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) family of systems across contested littoral and distributed operating environments, these AUGVs bridge the ‘last tactical mile’ logistics gap by automating ammunition resupply and reducing risk to warfighters. While initial efforts focus on autonomous logistics distribution via resilient, AI-driven networks, future capability spirals will integrate modular sensor packages and effectors to extend the active detection, tracking, identification, and defeat of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), rotary-wing aircraft, and low-altitude fixed-wing threats.”
