Oshkosh Defense teams with Naval Surface Warfare Center to test new uses for UGVs in the field

30th March 2009 - 17:07 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Source: Oshkosh Defense

Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), announced today it is working in conjunction with the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) to develop and evaluate potential new and innovative uses of the company’s autonomous technology. As a result, Oshkosh will gain the military application data needed to refine its autonomous technology and move it closer to production.

The NSWC will be sponsoring these cooperative operations, which will involve Oshkosh’s unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), TerraMax, and take place at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. TerraMax is based on Oshkosh’s Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) 4x4, and the NSWC will investigate the use of TerraMax as a Roboticized-MTVR (R-MTVR) in different mission-specific scenarios. If successful, the work could lead to new uses of UGVs and autonomous technologies on the battlefield.

“Oshkosh Defense is excited to be breaking new ground in the autonomous-technology field with the NSWC,” said Andy Hove, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Defense. “We are still in the early exploratory stages of finding ways we can make missions safer for our soldiers through the use of UGVs, and opportunities such as these are important first steps.”

TerraMax features the Oshkosh Command Zone® drive-by-wire technology, which allows computer-controlled steering and direct electronic control of the acceleration, braking and transmission systems. The vehicle also features a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, camera-based vision and a GPS/IMU system for operation and navigation purposes.