A new uncrewed ground combat vehicle designed as a battlefield companion to crewed armoured fighting and logistics vehicles was unveiled by BAE Systems Australia at the opening of the 2024 Land Force Exposition in Melbourne on 11 September.
Called the Autonomous Tactical Light Armour System (ATLAS) Collaborative Combat Variant (CCV) the 10 tonne (dependent on payload) 8x8 vehicle is optimised for high levels of autonomy with both on-road and off-road mobility matched to crewed counterparts such as infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks.
It has been developed by BAE Systems Australia in cooperation with Supacat, Valhalla Turrets in Slovenia, and Marand. It is designed to use a high level of autonomy to drive autonomously, avoiding obstacles and planning its own route.
It is armed with a new lightweight medium calibre turret system called Vantage, which is designed for use on uncrewed platforms. The turret is designed with a ‘human in-the-loop’ targeting system.
"The ATLAS CCV is capable of undertaking the dirty and dangerous tasks such as direct fire support, obstacle clearance, combat reconnaissance or very short range air defence," said BAE System Australia's Business Development Manager - Autonomy, Stuart Bryden.
“All of these tasks place an armoured vehicle and its crew at significant risk."
Several design choices about the vehicle have been made to take advantage of opportunities to "adaptively reuse" equipment that is in the current ADF inventory. The turret, designed by Valhalla Turrets in Slovenia, mounts a 25mm Bushmaster II cannon that is common with those fitted on the ASLAV. The drivetrain, meanwhile, is based on Supacats' HMT Extenda platform.