DARPA showcases advanced awareness, coordination for small combat units through first Squad X test

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) successfully conducted a test of the Squad X Experimentation program last week, pairing Army and Marine units with autonomous technology.

Squad X involves an integrated system that boosted the coordination, threat detection and combat effectiveness of Marine squads in the field. Squad members were put through a series of scenarios in which they utilized autonomous air and ground vehicles to detect physical, electromagnetic and cyber threats.

“Each run, they learned a bit more on the systems and how they could support the operation,” Lt. Col. Phil Root, program manager for Squad X Core Technologies, said. “By the end, they were using the unmanned ground and aerial systems to maximize the squad’s combat power and allow a squad to complete a mission that normally would take a platoon to execute.”

Squad X is built on the understanding that modernization demands manned-unmanned cooperation. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, as well as CACI’s BIT Systems, have followed the same approach, developing unique programs to enhance warfighters’ capabilities. For Lockheed this has taken the form of autonomous robots with sensor systems, while CACI created the BITS Electronic Attack Module, allowing soldiers to detect, locate and attack threats through radio frequency and cyber domains.

Further tests are currently slated for early 2019.