At five meters long and 2.5 meters wide, the Black Knight is very similar to a tank.
People in the global defense industry have high hopes for the Black Knight and see it as the future of ground warfare: The vehicle can be operated by a Dismounted Control Device (DCD), which is essentially a large remote control.
Black Knight is operated by a 300 horsepower Caterpillar engine, travelling at the same speed as main battle tanks. Many of the automotive parts in the Black Knight are the same as in the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It is one of the most sophisticated of the unmanned ground combat vehicles, and its development is at an advanced phase.
Below, the Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Support System Unmanned Ground Vehicle equipped with a Gyrocam 9-inch mid-wave, surveillance sensor was flown by sling load into the “hostile” area using a Lockheed Martin K-MAX® unmanned helicopter, and a tactical resupply and surveillance mission was conducted in autonomous and tele-operated modes demonstrating “extending the reach of the warfighter” – video courtesy of Lockheed Martin:
Both SMSS and K-MAX were equipped with mobile Satellite Communications (SATCOM) systems as well as local line-of-sight communications systems. A remote operations center equipped with SATCOM controlled and monitored the vehicles’ activities throughout the demonstration. During the test, the Gyrocam 9-inch, mid-wave surveillance sensor provided constant video surveillance during each phase of the mission, including while in flight. The elevated system scanned for threats and provided geo-location coordinates of hostile personnel for indirect-fire missions.
“Fully autonomous capabilities as we’ve just demonstrated will allow service members to focus on important missions and remain out of harm’s way,” said Scott Greene, vice president of Ground Vehicles for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “This successful demonstration with both unmanned air and ground vehicles shows us that these missions are not only possible, but can be available much sooner than you would expect.”
