AUKUS Scientists Test Autonomous Military Vehicles in South Australia

Defense scientists from Australia, the UK, and the United States are testing the use of autonomous vehicles in combat environments, the U.S. military announced on Feb. 5. The trials are designed to test autonomous vehicle behavior and sensor arrays in a contested environment, that is, when they are under attack. A network of robotic ground vehicles simulated the conduct of long-range precision fires in a combat scenario in southern Australia but did not carry live munitions, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), which oversees U.S. military operations in the region. Some of the vehicles were configured to represent autonomous multi-domain launchers, a type of unmanned high mobility artillery rocket system, commonly referred to as HIMARS....