WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army is seeking information from industry on autonomous and robotic technologies that could support future uncrewed ground vehicle recovery operations in contested environments.
In a request for information (RFI), officials said current vehicle recovery operations require significant manpower and expose Soldiers to enemy threats while operating in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited (DDIL) communications environments.
The market research effort focuses on identifying existing systems and emerging technologies in tactical autonomy, robotic manipulation, and autonomous navigation that could reduce personnel requirements and improve recovery operations under operationally challenging conditions.
Autonomy needs
The Army is interested in solutions capable of autonomously locating and navigating to disabled, destroyed, or immobilized vehicles; conducting rigging operations; operating in geographically challenging terrain; and performing recovery tasks in degraded or denied communications environments.
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Officials said the effort is intended to inform future requirements development and acquisition planning. The Army is open to approaches that modify existing military vehicles as well as entirely new recovery platforms.
According to the RFI, the Army is seeking ruggedized, low-logistics solutions that can execute complex recovery missions while reducing the personnel footprint, resource demand, and exposure time associated with traditional recovery operations.
The Army's interest in robotic rigging and recovery highlights one of the more difficult challenges in military ground autonomy: physical interaction with damaged equipment.
Unlike logistics or convoy missions, recovery operations require autonomous systems to identify recovery points, manipulate cables and tow equipment, assess terrain conditions, and safely execute high-force extraction operations while operating in communications-degraded environments. The requirement suggests Army interest in combining advanced perception, robotic manipulation, and onboard decision-making technologies into a single recovery platform.
Responses may address all or part of the Army’s areas of interest and should be submitted as a single PDF document. Graphics and diagrams are encouraged.
Responses are due by 12:59 p.m. Eastern on 31 July 2026 and should be submitted via email to [email protected]. More information is available at https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/cb5d64eee89d40f48a3fab599f16d290/view.
