The Armed Robotic Vehicle (ARV), in development at BAE Systems in Santa Clara, California, will provide the U.S. Army with the ability to see and strike the enemy first, while offering soldiers unprecedented protection and survivability.
The semi-autonomous ARV is the largest unmanned ground vehicle in the Army's FCS program, and will be an integral platform within platoons and companies in the FCS-equipped Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). ARV will be highly deployable - two at a time on a C-130. The ARV offers the battlefield commander new and unmatched capabilities for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition as well as assault firepower.
The ARV Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition variant (ARV-R) will be assigned to FCS platoons equipped with Mounted Combat Systems and Reconnaissance and Surveillance manned ground vehicles. The ARV-R will feature a RSTA mast, carry a cannon for self defense, disperse unattended ground sensors and conduct battle damage assessments.
The second variant, the ARV Assault (ARV-A), is designed to accompany FCS platoons equipped with Infantry Carrier Vehicles. The ARV-A integrates long-range Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) missiles, a powerful automatic cannon and a high-rate-of-fire, suppressive machine gun. The assault variant also features an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor.
BAE Systems is in the System Design and Development (SDD) phase of the FCS ARV program. Under this effort, the company will test the first prototypes in 2010, with fielding to FCS-equipped BCTs scheduled for 2012-2014.
