Forterra and Oshkosh Score $92M Order for ROGUE-Fires

It’s always a good sign when the customer comes back for more. Yesterday, ground autonomy hotshot Forterra announced that they’ve (along with prime partner Oshkosh Defense) scored a Block 2 production contract from the Marine Corps for their Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE-Fires) system. The award consists of two orders—134 units already delivered and an expected 44 to come—totaling $92M. This marks the military’s largest-ever public production contract for ground autonomy, according to the company. “The current fight demands autonomous systems that increase force effectiveness, extend operational reach, and preserve combat power in contested environments,” Forterra Vice President of Defense Pat Acox said in a statement. “By integrating AutoDrive into ROGUE-Fires Block 2, we’re advancing a more survivable and mobile approach to sea control from the land domain.” “A rogue battery is able to project dramatically more fires than an equivalent number of humans in a conventional missile battery,” Forterra CGO Scott Sanders added to Tectonic. “It gives the Marine Corps a lot of optionality and flexibility when it comes to reducing the number of people that it takes to deploy offensive fires.” Fast friends: The Forterra-Oshkosh partnership is a mash-up for the ages. The two companies formally announced that they were teaming up to build an autonomous launcher last fall at AUSA, and since then have been churning out ROGUE-Fires systems like hot cakes. Here’s how the whole setup works: “There are still humans in the loop, they’re still deployed with these systems, but instead of having to have two people per firing platform, you have zero,” Sanders said. “If you think about a convoy that might typically have 30 or 40 people in it, you can get that down to two to four people.” Gimme gimme gimme: Under this new order, Oshkosh and Forterra will continue work with the Marines through 2031. Big ups: Beyond being a major win for Forterra itself, this is a pretty huge moment for autonomous systems as a whole, Sanders said. This contract takes UGVs out of the concept and prototype world and makes them something, like, actually real and fielded. “There’s a ton of hype around maritime and air, and ground sometimes gets forgotten,” Sanders said. “But this is the first program of a record for an autonomous vehicle—air or maritime [included]—that’s actually in the field and going to operational end users in INDOPACOM.”