October 20, 2004
The Gladiator enters the Fray
The marine corps are experimenting with an robust UGV for exploration, scouting, and other tasks that fall under the rubrik of Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous. Called the Gladiator, it looks like a fairly conventional tracked vehicle. Not a lot of technical details in the article, but interesting none-the-less.
Posted by elkaim at October 20, 2004 12:35 PMThe Gladiator will be expeditionary in nature, inherently simple, durable, multi-functional, and easily transported and operated in the littoral battlespace. In the conduct of Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS), STOM, Sustained Operations Ashore (SOA), and Operations Other Than War (OOTW), the Gladiator will enhance the ability of Marines to accomplish assigned mission tasks. Operating just forward of the GCE units, the Gladiator will perform basic scouting/surveillance, obstacle breaching, and NBC reconnaissance tasks while permitting the operator to remain covered or concealed. The basic Marine Corps Gladiator will consist of a Mobile Base Unit (MBU), an OCU, and specific Mission Payload Modules (MPMs). Initial MPMs will include JCAD, APOBS, LVOSS, and direct fire (lethal and non-lethal). With development of future MPMs, the Gladiator operational capabilities may include Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition/designation (RSTA-D), engineer reconnaissance, communications relay, tactical deception, and counter sniper employment. Gladiator employment concepts include Offensive Operations, Defensive Operations, and OOTW.
The Gladiator TUGV is planned as a robust, compact, unmanned, tele-operated/semi-autonomous, multi-purpose ground RSTA vehicle system possessing a scouting and direct engagement capability. It will provide the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Ground Combat Element (GCE) with remote reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA), nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance, obstacle breaching, and direct fire capability to neutralize threats and reduce risk to the warfighter. The TUGV system will be fielded to infantry battalions and combat engineer companies and must be strategically, operationally, and tactically deployable worldwide in ground, aircraft and sea transport conveyances available to the MAGTF.
The configuration of the Gladiator system will consist of a highly mobile and survivable ground-based Mobile Base Unit (MBU), interchangeable Mission Payload Module (MPM) packages capable of supporting different mission requirements, and a man portable, hand held Operator Control Unit (OCU). The OCU will provide the Gladiator and its MPM's with tele-operational capability as well as data display, storage and dissemination. It is expected that the OCU will exchange video and data signals with the Gladiator via a non-tethered military link.