The Ripsaw is a series of developmental

unmanned ground combat vehicles An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...

Howe & Howe Technologies Howe & Howe Technologies (H&H, H and H, or HH) is a business in Waterboro, Maine that specializes in the fabrication and design of armored and military-grade vehicles, most notably the Ripsaw combat vehicle. Other products include the Badger, re ...

(now part of

Textron Systems Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engines. ...

) for evaluation by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. The Howe brothers started the Ripsaw as a small family project in 2000. They introduced it at a Dallas vehicle show in 2001, where it caught the interest of the U.S. Army. Later that year the U.S. military ordered a prototype MS-1 to be made and shipped to Iraq. The Ripsaw is intended to perform various missions including convoy protection, perimeter defense, surveillance, rescue, border patrol, crowd control, and

explosive ordnance disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the militar ...

. For perimeter defense or crowd control, a belt of M5 crowd control munitions (MCCM) can be mounted around the vehicle to break up crowds or engage personnel with less-lethal flash-bang effects and

rubber bullet Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are a type of baton round. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. Altho ...

s. Cameras provide 360-degree coverage for

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness (SA) is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. An alternative definition is tha ...

for the operator. The Army has tested the Ripsaw while remote-controlled by a soldier in another armored vehicle up to away. Its weapon system is modified to fire remotely using the Advanced Remote Armament System (ARAS), a gun that loads its own ammunition and can swap out various types of ammunition, such as lethal and less-lethal, in just a few seconds. These capabilities allow manned vehicles to send the Ripsaw out in front of them and engage targets without exposing soldiers to threats. As of March 2017, the Army was still testing the vehicle as an unmanned platform to test

remote controlled weapon station A remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), or remote weapon station (RWS), also known as a remote weapon system (RWS), is a remotely operated weaponized system often equipped with fire-control system for light and medium-caliber weapons which ca ...

s. In October 2019, Textron and Howe & Howe unveiled their Ripsaw M5 vehicle, and on 9 January 2020, the U.S. Army awarded them a contract for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Medium (RCV-M) program. Four Ripsaw M5 prototypes are to be delivered and used in a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

-level to determine the feasibility of integrating unmanned vehicles into ground combat operations in late 2021. It can reach speeds of more than , has a combat weight of 10.5 tons and a payload capacity of . The RCV-M is armed with a 30 mm autocannon and a pair of

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a Missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy Armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...

s. The standard armor package can withstand 12.7×108mm rounds, with optional add-on armor increasing weight to up to 20 tons. If disabled, it will retain the ability to shoot, with its sensors and radio uplink prioritized to continue transmitting as its primary function.

Variants

Ripsaw UGV (non-militarized) prototype could accelerate to in about 3.5 seconds. *Ripsaw MS1 tactical UGV utilized a powerful oversized and customized Duramax 6.6L V8 diesel engine that delivers of torque. The Ripsaw MS1 was a test platform made to test off-road capabilities. It was exclusively unmanned, cost $200,000 and could accelerate from in 3 seconds. *Ripsaw MS2 UGV is made to be larger, faster, and more modular than the MS1. It weighs and can carry a payload. The lightweight tubular chassis design is powered by a 6.6 liter Duramax diesel engine generating and of torque. Fully loaded, the MS2 can accelerate from in 5.5 seconds and has a top speed of . The vehicle can traverse 50-degree gradients and 45-degree slopes. It can be optionally manned or tele-operated from a nearby command vehicle. Armament can include an

M240 machine gun The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The M240 has been used by the U ...

or M2 .50-caliber machine gun, and it has been tested with the

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

missile. If the Ripsaw is damaged or destroyed, parts can be "cannibalized" in the field and re-assembled quickly. An MS2 vehicle costs $750,000. *Ripsaw MS3 UGV is being tested by

United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command The Combat Capabilities Development Command, (DEVCOM, aka CCDC) (formerly the United States Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM)) is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. RDECOM was tasked with "creating, ...

under the Remote Armed Maneuver Platform (RAMP) initiative to integrate the M153 CROWS remote weapon system onto an unmanned vehicle. RAMP was demonstrated at

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

, Georgia in October 2013 as part of the Army's Armed Unmanned Ground Vehicle (AUGV) program. *Ripsaw EV2 is a luxury version, with a fully enclosed body and two seats inside the cab. It can exceed speeds of over and has a range of approximately . It is currently unknown if the EV2 can mount remotely-operated weapon systems or not. This model is designed for the civilian market and costs $295,000 with customizable features. *Ripsaw M5 is a fully autonomous, all electric tank with a modular design and max speed up to 60 mph (96 km/h). *Ripsaw F4 is the latest civil variant that will now allow 4 passengers with max speed up to 55 mph.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ripsaw (Vehicle) Textron Light tanks of the United States Post–Cold War light tanks Trial and research tanks of the United States Unmanned ground combat vehicles

Variants

See also

References