FORT BELVOIR, Va. (June 4, 2026) — To defeat adversaries’ explosive hazards on today’s battlefield, U.S. Army researchers are integrating the latest advances in artificial intelligence to deliver greater lethality and survivability to Soldiers.
With Soldiers facing increasingly sophisticated and complex threats, Army scientists and engineers are developing capabilities to enable persistent ground situational awareness for maximum force protection. The Army’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center leads the Ground-based Multi-Mission Payload project.
Breaching minefields has historically been one of the most dangerous tasks for troops. By automating the monotonous and fatiguing task of manual threat scanning, Soldiers can focus their attention on the broader tactical environment while easing the cognitive load. While unmanned aerial systems can cover wide areas, ground systems remain essential to detect threats aerial assets can’t see.
“Our S&T and technical expertise across core competencies including advanced sensing, intelligence, and command and control are delivering critical advantages for our Soldiers — situational awareness, enhanced operational speed, and safety,” said C5ISR Center Director Beth Ferry.
The GMMP proof-of-concept prototype includes a suite of hardware and AI-enabled software with advanced sensors, which have been outfitted onto a variety of ground vehicles and robotic platforms: a specially equipped military vehicle; a robot dog; and a Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, an unmanned, eight-wheeled heavy-duty robotic platform with instruments to complete multiple threat removal and complex mission sets, according to C5ISR Center physicist Kendall Johnson, the project’s technical lead.
An AI model detects, classifies, and reports explosive threats in real-time, integrating seamlessly into the Tactical Assault Kit ecosystem that populates a common operating picture for the entire team, both inside the vehicles and in the command post. Soldiers can identify hazards from a safe standoff distance, turning hours of manual scanning into a millisecond-fast automated process.
“The system incorporates a government-developed and -owned open AI architecture built by Army subject-matter experts,” Johnson said of the project’s plans for multi-algorithm support. “The Army can add the best algorithms from any source, at any time. The concept remains relevant into the future with the ability to incorporate new technologies as they emerge.”
C5ISR Center Countermine Ground to Ground Portfolio lead Dr. Amin Abbasi Baghbadorani said another project goal is transitioning from current counter-explosive systems that are often built with proprietary software and hardware while limited to a single purpose.
“GMMP is based on a modular concept to integrate commercial off-the-shelf hardware,” Abbasi Baghbadorani said. “Its open architecture is designed for rapid adaptation to new vehicles, sensors, and AI algorithms. The capabilities can be used with any platform and are easy to transition.”
Working with noncommissioned officers assigned to the Center is critical to providing Soldiers with the best tools for lethality and survivability, Johnson said.
“Feedback from NCOs has been incredible as we get feedback on-site,” Johnson said. “We’re able to make changes the same day and update the systems. It’s optimized the speed and pace of our project.”
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Havens, a C5ISR Center enlisted adviser, is working with the project’s scientists and engineers to bring his operational expertise as a network communication systems specialist into the technology development cycle.
“There’s an instant feedback loop,” Havens said. “What we do as enlisted Soldiers for C5ISR Center is they will give us their technology, show us how operate it, and run us through scenarios. We’ll tell them how to design the system to make it easier to use, more functional. Situational awareness is key. The more you have SA of the battlefield, the more you can devise a plan to execute, navigate, and negotiate.”
The GMMP team’s next steps are to mature the prototype into a cross-platform demonstrator with activities planned in additional climates and locations in the near future. It’s imperative the system performs across the wide range of conditions Soldiers face — extreme temperatures and humidity, sand, dust, foliage, snow, ice, and varying grass and soil types.
“The focus is adapting the system to more complex environments to prove its end-to-end capability,” Abbasi Baghbadorani said.
By Dan Lafontaine, DEVCOM C5ISR Center Public Affairs
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