AUSA 2021: GDLS displays second iteration of Tracked Robot 10-Ton

GDLS is displaying its next iteration of its Tracked Robot 10-Ton (TRX) at this year's AUSA. (GDLS)

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is displaying its next iteration of the Tracked Robot 10-Ton (TRX) and a next-generation electronic architecture at this year's annual Association of the US Army (AUSA) conference.

Company officials provided Janes with an update on technologies and platforms it plans to showcase at this year's show in Washington, DC, to include updates to the TRX, a platform it is touting as a potential contender for a future army Robotic Combat Vehicle-Medium (RCV-M) competition, as well as an electronic architecture it dubs Katalyst.

Although the army currently has an RCV-M prototype, GDLS has continued to develop the TRX and has been testing it out the five-tonne unmanned platform with various payloads (weighing up to five-tonnes) at different army events ahead of the service's 2022 RCV soldier experiment. Such events included one at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in September where the tracked, flattop robot donned ‘implements' to clear rubble out of the way, as well as a mine-clearing line charge (MICLIC) for obstacle reduction and removal vignettes.

“What we learned, in general, is the concept is feasible. You can operate a vehicle at the point of a breach using remote controls, and it works,” the company's US director of business development Tim Reese said on 4 October. “Everybody would like to do things faster, or lift a heavier load, or push a bigger pile of dirt, or knock over a thicker wall, but I think the good news is that the concept…is viable.”