US Army to test C-UAS auto turret for combat vehicles

Bullfrog RCWS. (Allen Control Systems)

The US Army has awarded a contract to integrate the M240 configuration of the Allen Control Systems (ACS) Bullfrog autonomous turret for at least two combat vehicles, a company executive told Janes on 16 December.

The USD1.5 million contract awarded in October supports integration of the machine gun turret into “five of the army's most deployed combat vehicles” for counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) testings, but the company is not allowed to say which ones, Michael Wior, CEO of ACS, said in an interview. As part of the contract, Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center and 1st Cavalry's Transformation in Contact (TiC) unit have the option to integrate additional vehicles, an option worth up to USD4.5 million, according to ACS.

Wior declined to provide details on what the company has done as part of the contract in the past two months. “There were no delays from shutdown, and we are tracking on time towards our first milestone,” he said in a statement.

Specifications

The M240 machine gun variant of the turret will be integrated into the vehicles, leading to “a big” live testing with 1st Cavalry soldiers in October 2026, Wior told Janes . First, the army will conduct a feasibility study on integrating the turret across the five vehicles, then select a minimum of two that would be the best fit for C-UAS operations.

There are three other variants of the Bullfrog system that have not yet been fielded – an M2 variant with a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun (HMG), the M230 variant with a 30 mm automatic cannon, and the M134 variant with a 7.62 mm six-barrelled Gatling-type gun.