American Rheinmetall has secured an 18-month contract awarded through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) to supply new autonomous ground vehicle technologies for the US Army under Project Sustainment.
The agreement tasks the defense contractor and its industry partners with developing hybrid-powered, uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) engineered to reinforce tactical supply operations. Designed to support company-sized units, the autonomous platforms will transport critical materiel to and from contested front lines, minimizing direct threat exposure for troops while bolstering the Army’s overarching force modernization goals.
Key development priorities for Project Sustainment center on combining commercial platforms with high-level autonomy and modernized human-machine interaction. Notably, the project will incorporate natural language voice control, allowing operators to command the uncrewed systems using intuitive verbal instructions.
To accelerate vehicle development and production, American Rheinmetall is collaborating with several key technology partners. Commercial automotive partner Harbinger is contributing vehicle architectures and engineering expertise to streamline scaling and rapid manufacturing. Meanwhile, Forterra is integrating robust autonomy suites engineered for distributed, low-intervention maneuvers in complex environments. Primordial Labs is providing its Anura human-machine interface, which utilizes natural language processing to convert operational intent into precise vehicle actions.
Engineering work and field trials will be conducted across multiple testing locations within the United States, with options for follow-on production orders as the US Army expands its autonomous logistics inventory.
“This contract expands our growing portfolio of uncrewed ground platforms within the US market and reinforces our position as a leader in military robotics,” stated Jim Schirmer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at American Rheinmetall. Schirmer noted that Project Sustainment directly aligns with Army modernization goals by deploying autonomous load-handling platforms that elevate unit readiness while easing operational demands on soldiers.
The award builds on a prior agreement established in May, when American Rheinmetall teamed up with Harbinger to design a family of robotic ground vehicles focused on supporting Department of Defense modernization initiatives.
