Inside the Chieftain's Hatch Snapshot: "M5" Robotic Combat Vehicle 

“Oh bugger, the tank is on fire” *watches it burn from a distance* “Oh well”

Note that "M5" is a Textron marketing name; *not* an actual Army type-classification or designation. RCV (Medium) is not even an Army program yet.

I like Sofilein’s candid appearance halfway through. 😊

This has the feel of those pre WW2 US tank exercises THe Chieftain talked about. We know the future is coming, we don’t have that much money for development, there is a lot of entrenched doctrine that doesn’t match the technology and until we actually get these things shot at we really don’t know if we made the right choices.

As a former SHORAD officer, I am happy to see Big Army looking into counter drone capabilities, whatever they may be.

The fact that the brothers from H&H have turned what was once a gimmick vehicle into a serious battlefield piece is just inspiring. Plus I want one of those RipSaw personal tanks 😉

The "oh bugger the tank is on fire!" test for this is you running out of the control centre after it's been bombed

"Bogies are back on the menu, boys!" Nice to see them come back after being absent since Challenger replaced Chieftain. Now I can continue to hit "mah Christie suspension" cult with them and torsion bars over the head and asking why do they think Comet was the last tank ever to use that maintenance nightmare:D

I love the questions The Chieftain asked - real world ones, like how does the suspension work, armoring concept, durability of the wheels, etc. So many channels have no clue into the actual operations. Great post!

I'm pretty sure those 2 soldiers at the end recognized The Chieftain and strolled about in front of the camera because they want to be in one of his future videos - and they succeeded! 🤣😆

The gun looks exactly like the M230LF chain gun, which would match the 30x113mm caliber the rep mentioned and likely simplify the maintenance using a proven gun already in the US Army logistics train. Not particularly lethal against MBTs but it'll make a mess of many APCs, IFVs and similar levels of armor, as well as attack helicopters if using the M789 HEDP round, which employs a small shaped charge warhead that also fragments upon impact.

There was a lot of marketing speak at times when he could have just said "We can't disclose that" or "We haven't figured that out yet" His response to how you keep the cameras clean was a big one.

it really comes down to how solid the communication between the operator and the UMV is, short of point to point laser, RF comms can be jammed, and controlling it with a guide wire has its own limitations. still though, if the enemy can't stop you from controlling it, it could be pretty damned effective

Usually we get Chieftain just going on about whatever vehicle and that is fine, but it is refreshing to see him being able to bounce things off someone who knows the details of the specific vehicle. E.g. the bit about suspension travel (even if we didn't get the exact number here).

Underground mining equipment; specifically loaders within stopes currently run off tele remote cameras, including recovery of broken down/ stuck loaders. Basically a 2nd tele remote loader will pull up behind the broken/ stuck one and lower a towing hook. This disengages the hand brake & gear box once engaged of the first vehicle, allowing it to be towed out. It can't fix a broken or thrown track :-)

The Chieftain is panicking because he can’t find the hatch

This vehicle will be a good chassis to build other capabilities on. In stealth mode it could bring up supplies and take away wounded from the front line, it could be used to clear mines or just do basic recon at night. Lots of possibilities!

Love Chieftain asking the real questions: what time do I have to be up to PMCS this vehicle?

What a salesman way to say "smoke launcher".

People keep saying "Skynet" but I could see it end up being more "Johnny 5." The operators always having to rein the vehicles in because they keep wandering off to look at stuff and trying to chat up the other drones.

Nick is really good at finding tough questions!

Important questions, can it charge your phone. Does the top have sufficient grip so soldiers to ride and probably surf the thing in groups? How much heat can it put out so guys can gather around and keep warm?

I thought I saw Sofilein in the background and a miniature M1 tank, but then again I could be seeing things.

I don't exactly know why, but tankettes (manned, not drones) have always interested me. The German Wiesel 1 is a fantastic example and I've heard it has good reviews from the soldiers using them. I'd like to see an optionally-manned version with a 2-man crew for a tiny recon vehicle.

looks interesting, see it as infantry support vehicle and am more curious how much stuff it can carry, like a mobile rearmament point for soldiers, when they spend the ammo, rockets, food and water in the field, also light troop transportation. But in that case a 40mm with programable fuzes would probably be a better option then the 30mm chain gun. having the option to secure gurneys on it for a quick field extract of wounded sounds like a good idea

Sofilein sighting at 9:15

The Russians actually used remote controlled tanks against Finland in 1940- they were called Teletanks- they are really interesting!

the chieftain bolo episode draws ever closer

Ryan mc beth showed the way to this great tank related channel. Thanks!

Also is that Sofilein in the background!? At 9:09.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

9:10.... is that Sofilein in the background?

Slap a Trophy system on that badboy and slave it to an Abrams, put it on the flanks so it can intercept close range RPG's and intercept missiles at longer ranges.

Super happy to see you are doing some current systems and future systems, thanks a million!

My dude is asking legit, on the ground questions regarding maintenance and function of all the do-dads, and Textron is sidestepping like a champ! lol

The 3rd guy walking in front of the camera did it on purpose. ;) Hmm, was that Sofi Lein in the background? It's also good to see our military anticipating and learning some lessons from recent conflicts, you know which one I mean. These could be very useful in many roles, especially for support and recon. Mechanized version of a fly swatter! :D

M-5, The Stuart would be proud.

Thx! Was having Chieftan withdrawals! Cheers!

In today's episode of "There is no inside for the Chieftain to hatch"

Nice to see the red banner flying.

M5? Oh no... *"This unit must survive."*

Battle Management System - a smartphone and Xbox controller. "Oh bugger, my batteries died", - options: 1. ask enemies for spare batteries, 2. use solar/handcrank. 3. Turn on automatic mode that shoots at everything if there is no operator detected.

Seems like something that could be implemented into platoons to give some more expendable scouting facilities, and require less soldiers on the ground. And that way there's someone there to hook up a tow cable if it does bog itself.

Love seeing the cutting edge on the channel as well, awesome. An amazing follow up would be on how would a doctrine be likely developed for autonomous vehicles

Don't know the answer or doesn't want to give the answer = vague answer + something positive on this vehicle and hammers down on this positive thing. What a salesman xD

"Anybody can get something stuck" - sounds like a beginning for at least an hour long story...

That's some grinding wheel technology for the road wheels . Polymer molded to a rigid structure . Instead of integrated diamond particles in the polymer, they probably use a glass or carbide "rebar" to increase, structural rigidity, traction and durability. As the polymer wears it would expose carbide , the carbide being many times harder than most things it would contact I nature, would take a seriously long time to wear out to get to the next layer of carbides , and so on. Same a a sintered diamond or polymer diamond polishing lap or even steel bedding compound that uses powdered metal for strength .used for rifle making. It can take a lot of pressure and shock. That would make a very long wearing and tough wheel for heavy use , a wheel that could be potentially remolded in field by mechanics using a premix and a jig . Engine can be the heat source for thermal curing .it even sunlight if the jig is made like a solar oven... You are welcome . This is my idea and as such if it is used ,I want %75 of gross income from it. And now counter offers...go!

It looks like the back half of the M5 is empty; so put a pickup truck bed in it as a combat mule. Load your supplies in the bed, let the thing trail behind a squad as they stomp across the landscape. Canvas cover over the top, you're ready to go!

Ha, at first I thought the answer at 8:28 was censored due to the beeping noise :D

Praise the Omnissiah! A combat automata!

So, how does it know who to kill? "You can't destroy the M5!" - Dr. Daystrom, Star Trek TOS. Does it tension it's own trac? Definitely no stop button, but I'm sure they can fit a large coffee maker on the back!

Love the guys at the end. The ultimate situational awareness!

I could see this as very useful during a multi pronged attack where a particular route is deemed too dangerous for manned vehicles..

Why isn't textron paying for this kinda grass roots lobbying!!! National treasure!!!

If they can ever find a way around jamming or hi-jacking(maybe signal is encrypted on a frequency that can't be jammed easily) Imagine these being backed up by supply vehicles and a few repair vehicles and a couple human units as a sort of sheep dog unit, and all being controlled by a point click and drag system like Command and Conquer on some kind of coordinates system with an aerial map, like a top down view. War becomes a game for those counties which can do that.

Was that Sofilein in the background about midway through the video? It was at the point where the guy in the dark suit who was laughing with a soldier walked away and drove off in a black van. There was someone with him that looked kind of Soflilein, at least from the back.

Super fascinating concept and vehicle! Thanks for sharing~

Having seen the German 'Goliath' and noting the irony, perhaps the M% should be called 'David'?

The beginning of the BOLO tank. *FOR THE HONOR OF THE REGIMENT!*

9:10 Sofi Lein arrives. Her channel is cool too.

I wonder if an armour piercing .50 cal in the battery would make the whole thing go boom 💥

Hey is that Sofilein coming in the shot at around 9:10?

This gun makes sense. This is essentially an upgraded and strongly modernized version of the WW2 era AA we saw. Drones are after all light, fairly slow moving targets. You just need to soup up the optics to spot the darn small things.

I definitely think unmanned vehicles are the future. Can't wait to see more as they develop.

All of those external connection ports on the back should be behind an armored door. They are extremely vulnerable to damage from enemy fire, obstacles and the average GI.

Does the vehicle have USB-C and if yes, is it QC compatible?

And So it Begins: Sad, the coming end of My favorite Chieftain Video Era.... "oh bugger, the tanks on fire "

An anti drone, land drone? The Simpsons was extremely prophetic, once again: "The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots"

I've actually been meaning to ask our gracious host here about his thoughts on the M5 for a while now, and just kept forgetting lol, so this is a nice surprise! I'm REALLY intrigued by this thing, it's a fascinating concept for a support vehicle, and in a variety of potential roles(as a basic mobility platform). I really like a lot of the design choices they made with the M5, given the current state of this future-leaning technology, it seems like a pretty smart, balanced design. BTW, it's worth checking out Textron's videos on it, they cover a lot more of the features(there's some clever stuff here). But I'd definitely like to hear a tanker's point of view about implementing this with other armor today and how unmanned support platforms like this could offer potentially expanded capabilities. Possibly make a tanker's job a little easier. Also, shout out to the Howe & Howe guys, incredible how far they've come! From two brothers that wanted to build a homemade 'high performance tank', to being an arm of an international defense supplier, that's just unreal! I still remember watching the OG OG Ripsaw video that went viral when I was in high school, back before "going viral" was a popular thing lol. Running through an old shack, destroying a mud pit, the good ol days lol. Pretty amazing that they took some backyard engineering and straight up 100% evolved it all the way into legitimately potentially military capable designs(give them the full credit when they finally get over that hurdle). You just don't hear of these sorts of stories today, the military isn't as interested in DIY garage ideas as they were back in, say, the early 1900s LOL.

My only regret about being a 19K was never being nominated to compete for the Sullivan Cup. I knew several winners though.

The concern with all of these remote systems is electronic countermeasures. You’re going to need to add support vehicles or integrated capability to take out whatever tries to jam them.

Once the frame is in place upgrading it with more and more autonomous AI features will be quick. Time to make an open source version that runs on a raspberry pi.

This is so cool. I'm excited to see which one the army will go with and if the Marine Corps will buy any at all.

I would just place two rolls in front of the camera between wich a sheet of plastic is moving, when one section is dirty you just roll to the next section. giving it a folding seat would allow to drive it over public roads, for the same reason detachable extra tanks would be helpful.

Imagine lighting off a radar within line of sight of enemy positions.

Well, it's 50 years late but we got our first Bolo.

im patiently waiting for the moment something like this, but with some kind of automatic artillery system, mortar or rocket artillery system rolls out of the production line.

19:27 I want to know the Chieftain would get in, let alone get out of the half size M1 next to this thing, is it his personal sports tank perhaps?

thanks

That would make a great long range scout vehicle for the armored forces.

The mini-me micro tank inside the robot tank it's the cherry on top.

Oh buger... My remote command post is under artillery fire.

Good grief, it's Bender on tracks. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

The only problem I see with it potentially swimming is that because it doesn't have a crew, it is likely a very dense vehicle. There might not be enough air inside to float.

God I would love to get inside that back panel and just look at the wiring

Looks like it could find a good home with Airborne units!

Fascinating. Thank you for this.

Autonomous operation in a combat situation is a very, very tall order which I suspect will only be approached by degrees. Even with humans, forces have to be coordinated and individual units cannot forever make decisions based only on their immediate environment. The stepping stone will be remote operation by some sort of insanely robust and redundant data link, then brief periods of autonomous operation bracketed by remote updates via that link, with autonomous periods increasing in duration as the Army gains experience and hones the system. There are also the questions of interrupting autonomous operation via the data link (the "WHOA" option), and what should the vehicle do when the data link is lost or jammed?

Does this have the optional Dalek package where it screams "Exterminate!" through loudspeakers when engaging soft targets?

Using video game systems to make UI work was brilliant. That said, I would prefer a KMB setup.

I wonder if we will see a future where the operators of these UGVs ride into battle as an extra chair in a future command tank. I've definitely envisioned a future in which each tank has its own drone operator for spotting drones or loitering munitions. But these UGVs are a bit less expendable than those are...

Always nice to have a multimillion-dollar Warmachine that you can disable with some spray paint

These things are really coming along in terms of development.

I saw "The Chieftan" in a collaboration with another channel, so I decided to check his out ... but yeah ... I'm truly thankful for subtitles. Since English isn't my native language, when he speaks he talks so fast and jumbled that it sounds like mumblerap or something to me. Like ... slow down and articulate, please. Oh well. Let me just say though, that I have have *huge* respect for knowledgeable experts in their field, like "The Chieftan". I just wish I could keep up with what's being said 😅

8:27 "So there's [REDACTED] the metallic [REDACTED] capability [...]"

Do a high speed tour of the war museum in overloon the netherlands

I know this is a worthy endeavor in the future of combat systems, but I still can't help but think of the Soldierboys in Haldeman's Forever Peace.

Was that a Sophie sighting!?!?!?? Thanks for the look into the pipe line of what is in test.

You'll have to change from M-5, because the Sig Spear rifle already has that.

They are making the same types of Robotic Combat Vehicles at Cyberdyne Systems