General Dynamics Land Systems [GD] has confirmed it submitted a bid for the Army’s Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) Inc. II competition, seeking to continue supplying ground robots for the next iteration of the program.
Ray Moldovan, GD Land Systems’ business development manager, told
Defense Daily the company’s offering for SMET Inc. II marks an “increase in capability” over the current platform it’s been providing since winning the original contract in 2020.
“General Dynamics Land Systems submitted a compelling proposal in response to the S-MET Increment 2 solicitation. We view Increment 2 as a terrific opportunity to maximize the lessons learned on Increment 1 and continue the yearslong relationship we’ve developed with the Army customer,” Moldovan said. “The newest version of S-MET will meet critical Army objectives for transportability, power export and mobility, among many other benefits. We’re excited to continue to support the Army in its ongoing mission to increase combat effectiveness within its formations through innovative uncrewed ground systems.”
The Army awarded the original $249 million SMET production deal to GD Land Systems in 2020 to deliver ground robots able to carry payloads of up to 1,000 pounds, or about nine soldiers’ worth of equipment, as well traveling up to 60 miles over the course of 72 hours (Defense Daily, July 15, 2020).
SMET Inc. II is the Army’s effort to field the next version of its equipment-carrying ground robot, with plans to pursue new multi-mission payloads for the platform.
The Army first detailed plans in March 2022 to pursue an open competition for the follow-on SMET Inc. II, which it said may include procuring over 2,000 more robotic platforms (Defense Daily, March 2 2022).
Kyle Bruner, the Army’s project manager for force projection, told attendees at last week’s NDIA Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina the service plans to make a prototype award for SMET Inc. II by late fiscal year 2024 or early FY ‘25.
“What you can imagine though is not what that platform brings in terms of just load-carrying capability but all the things that could be integrated onto it, and it can only be limited by the imagination,” Bruner said at the conference. “We are working toward an [SMET] Inc. II to create an open standards architecture so it can be very easy to plug and play all these capabilities the Army wants to add to its robotic system. And that’s what Inc. II brings to the game, in addition to increased power output and increased militarization and hardening.”
Bruner noted the Army is in its last year of fielding the original SMET system with the next version of the platform intended to transition from a tele-operated capability to autonomous operations, as well as handling up to 2,500 pounds of gear and new multi-mission payloads, to potentially include counter-drone capabilities.
Anduril Industries announced last week it has partnered with Hanwha Defense USA to offer a “modified, autonomy-ready” uncrewed ground vehicle based on South Korean defense firm Hanwha’s Arion-SMET platform for SMET Inc. II, and noted their team on the bid also includes Clarksburg, Maryland-based Forterra’s AutoDrive vehicle autonomy solution (Defense Daily, Feb. 29).