To serve as a “battlefield quarterback” and provide information, surveillance, and reconnaissance to Marines, the US Marine Corps will replace its Light Armored Vehicle with the ACV C4 UAS, outfitted with Stalker and Indago drones.
The US Marine Corps is set to replace its Light Armored Vehicle with BAE Systems’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle Command, Control, Communication and Computers/Uncrewed Aerial Systems (ACV C4 UAS), equipped with Stalker and Indago drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The ACV C4 UAS will act as a “battlefield quarterback” and collect and distribute sensor data to give Marines a better picture of what is happening in their environment. The drones can take off vertically, have complementary capabilities and are able to swap payloads quickly. The Stalker can fly for up to eight hours and the Indago can fly for just over an hour. The software that controls the drones is open and can be used across multiple control systems. Skunk Works, the unit of Lockheed Martin responsible for developing the drones, is considering how multiple drones could collaborate using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
