Overland AI Awarded $14.3M Contract to Automate the Breach
New contract equips commercially available trucks with autonomy, removing humans from one of the most dangerous jobs on the battlefield.
Overland AI®, a leader in ground autonomy for defense, was awarded a $14.3 million contract to facilitate autonomous off-road maneuver during breaching missions, one of the most dangerous military tasks.
Under the contract, Overland AI’s autonomy stack will be integrated onto commercially available heavy-duty trucks, transforming them into fully autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) that do not require a human driver. The effort also involves implementing multiple modular mission payloads, including a commercial-off-the-shelf mine roller, a lane marking system, and a counter-unmanned aircraft system. This work builds on Overland AI's prior autonomous breaching efforts with the 36th Engineer Brigade under the Machine Assisted Rugged Soldier (MARS) program.
“Overland AI was born out of a commitment to building technology that reduces unnecessary risk to humans on the battlefield,” said Byron Boots, co-founder and chief executive officer of Overland AI. “We are honored to bring a proven capability to combat engineers charged with clearing the way through minefields and obstacles so others can move safely behind them.”
Related work will be performed in Washington state, where Overland AI is based, and is expected to be completed in October 2027. The contract is funded through fiscal 2025 Defense-Wide and fiscal 2026 Army funds, and was awarded by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort.
Breaching has always involved putting combat engineers in some of the most exposed positions on the battlefield. The purpose of this contract is to change that by sending robots to take on part of the risk instead.