U.S. Army to test robot supply vehicles in Hawaii

The U.S. Army has selected nine companies as finalists in a competition to find autonomous ground and air vehicles that can resupply troops spread across Pacific islands, and their systems will go before soldiers in Hawaii next month. The competition, called G-TEAD USARPAC ACE 27-01: Autonomous Sustainment, is run by the Army’s Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate with U.S. Army Pacific and the Army FUZE xTech program. The finalists will take part in a live Soldier exercise scheduled for Nov. 4–15, 2026, at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii, the U.S. Army’s main combat training center for the Pacific. Eight of the nine finalists are competing with ground delivery systems, and one with an air delivery drone, according to the competition page. The ground entries are Ark Robotics’ M4 unmanned ground vehicle, BlueSky Innovations’ Jekyll US, Cyborg Autonomy’s modular tracked robot, Dataspeed’s TWEEDLE attritable wheeled dolly, Hypercraft’s Razorback, which also provides tactical power, Raptor Defense Company’s PIT VIPER personal combat vehicle, Stridar’s Siderunner Pro and Swarmbotics AI’s FIREANT, designed for the last tactical mile of resupply. Phenix Solutions is the sole air finalist with its Ultra 2XL heavy-lift drone. The Army framed the problem around the vulnerability of traditional supply lines in a Pacific conflict. Resupply between islands currently depends on high-value crewed ships and aircraft that would face serious risk in contested waters, while moving supplies on land puts a heavy physical load on soldiers. The service wants unmanned air, ground and surface systems that can carry different payloads over a range of distances, managed by software that routes supplies automatically and lets small teams control groups of vehicles. The competition was open to three capability areas: attritable air delivery systems, attritable autonomous surface vessels able to carry one to four standard shipping containers, and autonomous ground delivery systems. Attritable means cheap enough to be lost in combat without major impact. The finalist list includes ground and air entries. Entries had to meet demanding baseline requirements. Systems needed to be mature enough for testing in a realistic environment, be fieldable within 180 days of a contract award, work with the Army’s command and logistics networks, and keep operating when GPS and communications are jammed or degraded. They also had to show safe behavior around soldiers, including obstacle avoidance and emergency stops, and alert operators when a sensor or software fault occurs. Each finalist receives $25,000, and those whose systems are successfully integrated into the November exercise will receive another $25,000. After the exercise, the Army plans to select up to five winners for an additional $150,000 each, with winners scheduled to be announced on Nov. 15. The competition offers up to $1.5 million in cash prizes in total. From Nov. 30, 2026, through March 31, 2027, selected participants can submit proposals for follow-on prototype agreements worth up to $2 million, giving the Army a path to put the best-performing systems into units’ hands.