---
title: "The Army just got its hands on a robot .50 cal to play with"
description: "The Army has accepted delivery of its very first Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L) from QinetiQ Inc. and Pratt Miller Defense in early November"
date: "2020-11-16"
modified: "2020-11-16"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-robotic-combat-vehicle-light/"
categories:
  - "Army"
  - "Guns"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "News"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "Weapons"
---

# The Army just got its hands on a robot .50 cal to play with

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/army-robotic-combat-vehicle-light.jpg>)

The age of weaponized robots storming the battlefield alongside humans soldiers is officially upon us.

The Army accepted delivery of its very first Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L) from QinetiQ Inc. and Pratt Miller Defense in early November, the companies [announced](<https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qinetiq-and-pratt-miller-deliver-first-robotic-combat-vehicle--light-to-us-army-301171195.html>) in a statement last week, the first of the four systems the service plans on testing in the coming months

A purpose-built unmanned ground combat vehicle based on Pratt Miller’s [Expeditionary Autonomous Modular Vehicle](<https://www.prattmiller.com/news/article/524>) (EMAV) platform, the RCV-L is, essentially, a robotic weapons turret on treads.

Indeed, photos released of the new RCV-L show the vehicle base outfitted with what appears to be a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a legacy M153 Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS-J) turret [developed](<https://defence-blog.com/news/army/u-s-army-selects-kongsberg-to-develop-wireless-lethality-for-new-gen-robotic-combat-vehicles.html>) by Kongsberg.

[Selected](<https://defence-blog.com/news/army/u-s-army-selects-kongsberg-to-develop-wireless-lethality-for-new-gen-robotic-combat-vehicles.html>) in July to provide wireless fire control capability to the RCV-L, Kongsberg's turret could eventually boast a Javelin anti-tank guided missile alongside the system's existing machine gun to help the unmanned vehicle deal with armored vehicles, according to an Army slide [published](<https://breakingdefense.com/2019/10/army-robots-go-rolling-along-ahead-of-schedule/rcv-light-medium-heavy-spectrum-2/>) by Breaking Defense.

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/02/MTc2ODYxNTI1NzM3MjE5NjY3-army-robotic-combat-vehicle---light.jpg>)
*The Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light*

The final iteration of the RCV-L will eventually weigh “less than 10 tons, with a single vehicle capable of being transported by rotary-wing assets" like the Army's CH-47 helicopter, according to a 2019 [Congressional Research Service ](<https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45519/2>)report on the Army's RCV effort.

[According](<https://breakingdefense.com/2020/11/qinetiq-delivers-armed-scout-robot-to-army-rcv-l/>) to Breaking Defense, the RCV-L also comes equipped with the HoverFly Tethered Unmanned Aerial System, a physically-connected drone system designed to "look over buildings, hills, and obstacles while the ground vehicle stays hidden."

The current prototype RCV-Ls will be used to “determine the feasibility of integrating unmanned vehicles into ground combat operations," [according](<https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/01/09/army-picks-winners-to-build-light-and-medium-robotic-combat-vehicles/>) to an Army statement at the time, with the systems "used to conduct a company-level experiment at the end of 2021."

"The delivery of the first RCV-L is an exciting result of numerous government organizations and industry working together to achieve our first combat-ready robotic vehicle," Michael Rose, branch chief at the Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) [said](<https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qinetiq-and-pratt-miller-deliver-first-robotic-combat-vehicle--light-to-us-army-301171195.html>) in a statement.

QinetiQ and Pratt Miller were selected to develop the RCV-L platform through a rapid contracting mechanism back in February, as Defense News previously [reported](<https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/01/09/army-picks-winners-to-build-light-and-medium-robotic-combat-vehicles/>).

“Robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct ground combat operations,” Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, said in the [statement](<https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/01/09/army-picks-winners-to-build-light-and-medium-robotic-combat-vehicles/>) at the time.

“Whether that’s giving increased firepower to a dismounted patrol, breaching an enemy fighting position, or providing \[chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive\] reconnaissance, we envision these vehicles providing commanders more time and space for decisions and reducing risk to soldiers.”

***Related: The Army just wrapped up its first robot combat vehicle experiment. Here’s what it learned***

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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