US Marine Corps purchases 12 Mission Master SP autonomous ground vehicles from American Rheinmetall.

American Rheinmetall has secured a $7.28 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to supply the United States Marine Corps with twelve Mission Master SP autonomous unmanned ground vehicles and five amphibious Marine Kits. Procured for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory via ADS Inc., the platforms integrate advanced PATH autonomy software to support ongoing expeditionary experimentation and tactical mobility evaluations. The award builds on more than four years of joint testing to field reliable uncrewed ground systems for distributed maritime operations.

The procurement delivers twelve 1,134-kilogram Mission Master SP platforms capable of carrying up to 1,000 kilograms on land alongside five specialized kits designed to extend operational capabilities in littoral environments. Work will be executed by American Rheinmetall in the United States with engineering and production support provided by original equipment manufacturer Rheinmetall Canada.

Related topic: Japan selects Rheinmetall Mission Master SP and Milrem THeMIS UGV for autonomous trials

American Rheinmetall secured a $7.28 million contract to deliver twelve Mission Master SP autonomous ground vehicles and five amphibious kits to the U.S. Marine Corps. (Picture source: Rheinmetall)

On September 10, 2026, American Rheinmetall received a $7.28 million award for 12 Mission Master SP 8×8 autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), five amphibious Marine Kits, support equipment, engineering, logistics, training, and acceptance testing for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Defense Logistics Agency is executing the procurement through ADS Inc. for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, with American Rheinmetall leading U.S. work and Rheinmetall Canada supporting engineering and production. The purchase follows initial deliveries in early 2023, experimentation during Talisman Sabre 2023 in Australia and Apollo Shield at Twentynine Palms later that year, and a December 2023 order for six additional vehicles for III Marine Expeditionary Force, including four for 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. Rheinmetall now counts 12 Mission Master systems already fielded in support of Fleet Marine Force operations, while the new vehicles remain assigned to evaluation and capability development rather than a service-wide acquisition. The $7.28 million value equals $606,667 for each of the 12 vehicles if divided evenly, but that figure also includes five Marine Kits and the associated support package.

The Mission Master SP measures 3.05 m long, 1.52 m wide and 1.02 m high, has 250 mm ground clearance and weighs 1,134 kg before accounting for payload. It carries up to 1,000 kg on land, equal to 88.2% of its empty mass, raising the fully loaded vehicle mass to at least 2,134 kg, allowing a single SP to move nearly its own weight in ammunition, water, batteries, sensors or engineering stores. Maximum speed reaches 40 km/h, the endurance 54 km, and the maximum climb angle 35°, equivalent to a 70% grade. Electric motors and lithium-ion batteries provide standard propulsion, while hybrid diesel-electric operation, external generators, tracks fitted over the wheels, and a recovery winch are available. Optional ballistic protection reaches STANAG 4596 Level 1.

Amphibious operation reduces maximum payload from 1,000 to 300 kg, a 70% reduction, while speed falls from 40 km/h on land to 4 km/h in water or 8 km/h with assisted propulsion. The five Marine Kits therefore equip only 41.7% of the new 12-vehicle batch simultaneously, or one kit per 2.4 vehicles. The baseline SP is already amphibious; the Marine Kit is intended to increase reliability and operating duration during littoral missions rather than introduce swimming capability for the first time. The Minion Master SP can be carried inside CH-53, CH-47, V-22 and C-130 aircraft, sling-loaded, parachute-delivered or moved in an ISO container, while towing speed behind an armored vehicle reaches 70 km/h.

The vehicle's autonomy is based on Rheinmetall Canada's PATH A-kit, which separates vehicle movement from continuous manual driving. The A-kit has been integrated on more than 40 wheeled and tracked vehicle types and can combine LiDAR, radar, and cameras for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), obstacle avoidance, terrain analysis, image recognition, target tracking, route generation, and sensor fusion. Modes include Go-to, Send Route, Road Network, Dynamic Route, Follow-Me, convoy, and Record/playback, with control through tablets, single-hand controllers, smartwatches, or soldier systems. Dynamic Route allows the SP to follow a soldier or vehicle at a selected distance, while the "wolf pack" configuration allows one operator to supervise multiple A-UGVs as PATH handles steering, route keeping, and obstacle avoidance. LTE, SATCOM and military-cloud links are supported, but weapons release remains under human control.

The modular payload architecture allows the same chassis to carry logistics, casualty evacuation, ISR, communications, CBRN, and weapon modules. In a 2021 demonstration, an SP carrying an OTEOS electro-optical sensor detected a target and transferred its coordinates to a second SP carrying an Escribano Guardian 2.0 weapon station, which automatically slewed onto the target before human-authorized firing with a Dillon Aero M134D Gatling gun. Rheinmetall has separately integrated the Fieldranger remote weapon station, which has also been fielded with Mission Master systems supporting the Marine Corps. Another SP configuration demonstrated the use of Thales FZ275 70 mm laser-guided rockets against targets at 4 km, demonstrating how the vehicle can function as a sensor carrier, shooter or relay node depending on the installed equipment.

Marine Corps experimentation has tested the SP beyond controlled short-distance demonstrations. During Talisman Sabre 2023 in Queensland and Apollo Shield at Twentynine Palms, vehicles performed CASEVAC, resupply, urban missions and autonomous road movements reaching 50 km. That 50 km movement corresponds to 92.6% of the SP's published 54 km endurance, leaving a nominal 4 km margin if both figures are compared directly. The December 2023 acquisition of six vehicles then moved testing into III MEF, including four for 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines for pre-deployment work-ups and deployment. The September 2026 batch doubles that six-vehicle order and adds five amphibious kits, allowing MCWL to test larger multi-vehicle groups and littoral configurations.

The SP can exchange intelligence, imagery, radar, video and command data rather than operating only through its local controller. Supported interfaces include STANAG 2433, 3377, 4545, 4559, 4586, 4607, 4609 and 5525, plus U.S. MIL-STD-6017 Variable Message Format and Joint Variable Message Format. These standards cover military intelligence, still imagery, ISR databases, unmanned-system control, GMTI radar tracks, motion imagery and command-and-control data. PATH also connects with Rheinmetall soldier and command-and-control systems, allowing sensor information or target coordinates generated by one vehicle to move into a wider tactical network. The 2021 OTEOS-to-Guardian demonstration provided a vehicle-level example: one SP detected the target, transmitted its coordinates and cued the weapon station on another SP without requiring the second operator to reacquire it manually.

The Mission Master SP has been under development and military experimentation since 2017 and has subsequently been acquired or tested by several armed forces, including the U.S., UK, Australia and Japan. Japan ordered three SPs in April 2024 for cargo, surveillance and remotely controlled weapon roles, then began comparative trials with Milrem Robotics' THeMIS on October 3, 2025. The 1,134 kg SP carries 1,000 kg and reaches 40 km/h, whereas the 1,630 kg THeMIS carries 750 kg as standard or 1,200 kg maximum and reaches 20 km/h, although its hybrid powertrain provides up to 15 hours of operation. The SP is therefore 496 kg lighter and twice as fast, while THeMIS provides 200 kg more maximum payload and tracked mobility. For the Marine Corps, the procurement sequence remains incremental: initial vehicles in 2023, six for III MEF later that year, 12 Mission Master systems subsequently fielded in support of Fleet Marine Force operations, and another 12 SPs plus five Marine Kits in September 2026, without a disclosed service-wide acquisition quantity or full-rate production schedule.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.