Raytheon team demos new DeepStrike autonomous launcher at Army experiment
The team, which includes Forterra and Oshkosh, used the Project Convergence Capstone 5 experiment to fire a Joint Reduced Range Rocket training round that is currently in source selection.
Out at the Army’s Project Convergence Capstone 5 event, a Raytheon team demoed a new autonomous launcher for the service. (Raytheon)
GLOBAL FORCE 2025 — A Raytheon-led industry team demoed a new autonomous launcher, dubbed DeepStrike, paired with its bid for a new training missile at this month’s Project Converge Capstone 5 event, according to one company official.
“[There were] different objectives in each of those shots, but we have successfully fired [the DeepStrike launcher] three different times,” Brian Burton, vice president of Precision Fires and Maneuver at Raytheon, told Breaking Defense. “I would say the feedback so far has been pretty positive.”
Service officials used this year’s PCC5 demo to look at a host of autonomous weapons including the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (DEVCOM) Autonomous Multi-domain Launcher (AML), an uncrewed M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, as well as a rival design in development by Raytheon.
That team is using Oshkosh Defense’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle A2 (FMTV A2) as the base for the new mobile launcher, while tech firm Forterra is providing the autonomy.
So far, according to Burton, the team is using a leader-follower set up where a manned vehicle is out front and the autonomous launcher trails behind. The trio used that model out at Project Convergence in Fort Irwin, Calif., this month to fire Raytheon’s bid for the Army’s Joint Reduced Range Rocket (JT3) program — a training round for either the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) or M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). (The company submitted its proposal in May 2024 with Ursa Major providing the rocket motor. However, a winner has not been selected.)
The plan now is to take PCC5 feedback and continue launcher development and testing.
“We’re gonna do more testing … more autonomous vehicle demonstrations to where we’re proving out how it operates in a complex battlefield,” Burton said. “As you can imagine, with autonomy, you’re going to run into fog and rain. You’re going to run into vehicles, enemy vehicles that have been destroyed and are on fire, and so those things need to be accounted for.”
As companies continue work on new autonomous ground weapons, Army officials are sussing out limitations, working to see how they will fit into formations and acquiring ground robots under various initiatives.
For now, though, the service has not unveiled a firm plan for acquiring an autonomous launcher, but it is clear that if it does decide to proceed, it cannot rely on DEVCOM to mass produce them.
“I don’t see DEVCOM as being the way to introduce larger numbers into formations in the near future: That will be how we leverage industry,” Long-Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team leader Brig. Gen. Rory Crooks told Breaking Defense in late January. “But it starts with refining that requirement, which we’re in the process of [doing].”
AML work and demos with alternative autonomous launchers, like the one from the Raytheon team, are expected to help pave the path ahead, he explained. And, the next step is drafting an abbreviated capability development document (A-CDD) validating the need for a capability, and that could lead to a competitive rapid prototyping competition.
“This is not all about not replacing humans with robots, but [about] how do you make existing formations more lethal with autonomous systems,” he said.
