Autonomous - Assault Amphibious Vehicle (A-AAV)

The development of autonomous technologies capable of operating within the complexities of the littoral domain has manifested itself in a joint effort by ONR, Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific, and Johns Hopkins University among others.  The hardware and software associated with autonomous technology is being developed on both an AAV and a Gibbs Quadski in an effort to further the requisite technology to be employed on any vehicle or vessel that may operate within the littoral domain.  To date, both the autonomous AAV and Gibbs Quadski have been successfully tested on land and in the water to include surf zone characteristic testing.  This technology desires to remove the man from the machine, thus relegating highly dangerous missions—such as a beach assault to equipment that is unmanned—and can be programmed to execute a mission from the welldeck of a naval ship.  This autonomous technology will be integrated into the unmanned amphibious craft and it is highly likely that it will find its way onto many other pieces of GCE equipment in the future.

Marine Corps Gazette • August 2020
by Maj Justin D. Davis