The US Army Applications Lab has selected Allen Control Systems to develop an integration of its Bullfrog autonomous weapon station across five of the army’s most deployed combat vehicles.
The contract is valued at $1.5 million, with potential options of up to $4.5 million.
Evaluation of Bullfrog’s deployment on several key platforms will support rapid prototyping and allow soldiers to provide immediate feedback on the AI-powered weapon station.
The initiative “will help enable the Army to make informed decisions on scalable solutions to confront the growing threat of low-cost weaponized drones that continues to evolve,” said Major Colby Burkhart, Project Lead, Army Applications Lab.
Bullfrog System
Bullfrog is a lightweight, low-power autonomous weapon station designed to detect, track, and engage hostile unmanned systems.
It is intended for both mobile operations and static defense, including the protection of fixed sites such as critical infrastructure.
The system can engage unmanned aerial systems and operates in autonomous or semi-autonomous modes, with human authorization required to fire.
Bullfrog uses AI-enabled software to detect, identify, track, and cue targets with limited operator input.
It employs a fully passive sensor suite, allowing target detection and engagement without emitting signals that could reveal its position.
The weapon station uses standard NATO 7.62×51 mm ammunition and has a maximum cyclic rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute.
It weighs about 300 pounds (136 kilograms) without ammunition.
Bullfrog uses standard service weapons, supporting low cost per engagement, reported to be as little as $10 per kill.
