In this episode, Grant McHerron visits BAE Systems Australia to meet with Stuart Bryden, Business Development & Strategy Manager, and Farid Hasan, Program Manager - Autonomy, to discuss the state of autonomous systems.

We begin our discussion by exploring the company's long-standing involvement in autonomous systems, dating back nearly 40 years from programs like Nulka and ESSM. This history laid the groundwork for modern autonomy capabilities now seen on platforms such as Boeing's Ghost Bat and the Atlas UGV, via BAE Systems Australia’s Vehicle Management System.

Next, we delve into the specifics of these systems, including the vehicle management software developed internally at BAE Systems that handles navigation, system health monitoring, and mission planning for Ghost Bat, Atlas, and a fleet of the Army's M113s armoured personnel carriers. The discussion then shifts to the Atlas program, a large eight-wheel-drive platform with an automated turret designed from scratch to operate autonomously both on and off-road, complementing manned counterparts such as infantry fighting vehicles and tanks.

Furthermore, we examine how BAE Systems collaborates with partners such as TerraSense Analytics to enhance its autonomy suite through software and hardware integration, enabling faster development and deployment of capabilities like automatic target tracking. Finally, we consider the future trajectory of autonomy over the next decade, focusing on replacing humans in high-risk tasks for greater efficiency and asymmetric advantage.

Links:

BAE Systems Australia

https://www.baesystems.com/en-aus/what-we-do/innovation

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