SMSS™: An Unmanned Ground Vehicle Approach to Lightening the Load for Squad Mission Support

In response to critical need to lighten the infantryman’s load, SMSS was developed in collaboration with the US Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE). SMSS is an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), the size of a compact car, designed to transport cargo for dismounted operations. SMSS lightens the load, carrying extended mission equipment, food, weapons, water, and ammunition. SMSS was designed with the right combination of size, weight carrying, volumetric efficiency, transportability, and modularity to optimize the cargo carrying and transportability of the system. This paper defines the scope of the problem of combat overloading and reviews the SMSS approach as one solution.