AUKUS Robotic Defense Vehicles Matched in Simulated Battlefield Tests

Defense solutions researchers from the AUKUS military alliance of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States followed up their initial work on artificial intelligence-powered drones in April 2023 with the testing of robotic vehicles in battlefield conditions.

According to Kimberly Sablon, principal director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s trusted AI and autonomy and a past Potomac Officers Club speaker, the allies’ autonomous systems were matched in “rigorous red teaming” during the test called Trusted Operation of Robotic Vehicles in a Contested Environment. TORVICE was conducted at the Cultana Training Area in South Australia in fall 2023, the DOD said Monday.   

The tests involved U.S. and U.K. autonomous, unarmed multidomain launchers and uncrewed ground vehicles on long-range precision fires and associated missions. Australian TORVICE participants tested the vehicles’ performance against such attacks as electro-optical and electronic warfare.

Peter Shoubridge, land and joint warfare chief of the Australian Department of Defence’s Defence and Science Technology Group, said the tests’ combat simulations enabled assessments of the autonomous vehicles’ reactions to attacks. Learning vehicle battlefield behavior hastens collective AUKUS knowledge on system improvements to defend against attacks, Shoubridge added.