Army To Send Lockheed Martin Autonomous Vehicle To Afghanistan.

Lockheed Martin [LMT] yesterday said the Army's Rapid Equipping Force, through the Robotics Technology Consortium, selected its Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) to deploy to Afghanistan for a first-of-its-kind military assessment.

SMSS will deploy as the winner of the Project Workhorse Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) competition sponsored by the Army.

The largest autonomous vehicle ever to be deployed with infantry, the 11- foot-long SMSS can carry more than half-a-ton of a squad's equipment on rugged terrain, easing the individual soldier's burden, which can often exceed 100 pounds.

"SMSS is the result of more than a decade of robotic technology …