DoD to Test Advanced Land Drones at North Dakota’s Camp Grafton in October
The Pentagon will hold the Groundreaker 1 joint UGV demonstration in mid-October at Camp Grafton, North Dakota, inviting private firms to showcase rugged unmanned ground vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the Groundreaker 1 joint Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) demonstration, set for mid-October at Camp Grafton, an 11,000-acre Army National Guard installation in North Dakota near the Canadian border. The event will invite private companies to field their most rugged and sophisticated land drones, testing capabilities such as surveillance, cargo haulage, casualty evacuation, perimeter protection and autonomous obstacle navigation.
Organizers seek “all-terrain mobility” and resistance to jamming, aiming to speed the growth of the Ground Domain after rapid advances in aerial and maritime unmanned platforms. Federico Borsari of the Center for European Policy Analysis highlighted the critical feedback loop between the military and manufacturers. The demonstration follows the increasing use of UGVs in the Russia-Ukraine war, where they support logistics and act as launch platforms for aerial drones. The Pentagon’s contract, announced on Aug. 21, designates “selected vendors” to accelerate development of larger, potentially fully autonomous fighting vehicles.
Why it matters
The test could speed deployment of autonomous land systems, reshaping future combat and reducing risk to troops.
In this story
