Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Rheinmetall presented the Autonomous Combat Warrior (ACW) Wiesel and demonstrated various capabilities on an off-road course in Australia. As explained by Russell Gallagher, Chief Engineer - Research & Technology, Rheinmetall Australia, the ACW Wiesel is Rheinmetall's first platform-independent autonomous vehicle. The autonomous system can be integrated into any wheeled or tracked vehicle such as HX series trucks, GTK Boxer and the Lynx vehicle family. The top priority is to improve the security of the soldiers.

According to Rheinmetall, the ACW Wiesel was built in two years in collaboration with research services from the Australian Departments of Defense and Economy and two Australian universities. The basis is the Wiesel 2 with an 81 kW VW diesel, which drives the chain drive with four rollers on both sides via a hydromechanical torque converter.

The autonomous system allows operation in several modes. It allows manual control on site and enables remote operation. In autonomous mode, the vehicle follows programmed waypoints and can avoid obstacles. Follow-on mode is also available, in which the vehicle follows a lead vehicle in convoy mode or preceding soldiers.

blank
The Autonomous Combat Vehicle ACW Wiesel, Source: Rheinmetall

Gallagher describes the autonomous system as the brain for mapping the waypoints and managing the flow of data from the sensors. For implementation in vehicle functions, a system is used to control the engine and the gear shift, which controls the throttle response, the brakes and the steering via Rheinmetall's own drive-by-wire system.

blank
blank
blank

To supplement the autonomy system, systems

  • to recognize the behavior of preceding soldiers,
  • for terrain recognition using computer vision and advanced LIDAR technology, and
  • to make tactical decisions based on environmental conditions,

developed, all of which can be retrofitted to the ACW Wiesel.

The complete system can be installed in the vehicles mentioned above and in other vehicles in a short time using a crane.

In Gallagher's assessment, the autonomous equipment introduced with the ACW Wiesel is by far the most advanced autonomous infantry combat system in existence.

Editors / gwh