UK Military Requirements for Unmanned Land Vehicle Combat Engineer Support
Abstract
The paper describes the operational requirements and methods of achieving remote operation of Combat Engineer Equipments for use by the UK Army during periods immediately prior to combat, possibly during combat and extensively in post conflict clearance operations. The techniques could also be used in peace support or for non-military applications. Unmanned ground vehicles have several potential applications on the battlefield including reconnaissance, mine clearance and other engineer tasks. The paper examines the teleoperational requirements for the adaptation of existing Combat Engineer Vehicles such as the Chieftain Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineer (CHAVRE), and the Combat Engineer Tractor (CET) and future requirements for service replacement vehicles such as Future Engineer Tank (FET) and Terrier (replacement CET). The benefits of the use of technologies to improve remote control equipment for the combat engineer are discussed with the evolutionary approach of developing vehicles which have greater intelligence, independence, versatility, and which reduce certain manpower tasks at favourable costs savings. The paper discusses specific topics on UK Engineer support requirements, direction of UK RLV programme, design philosophy, advantages and disadvantages of using UGVs instead of manned vehicles, safety features and some technology limitations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADP010323
Entities
People
- H. A. Warren