Autonomous robot targets are used in a Marine training event at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 2021. The Army is seeking to acquire eight robotic infantry targets and two robotic vehicle targets to use at exercise African Lion this year, according to federal contracting documents. (Jennifer E. Reyes/U.S. Marine Corps)
Hitting a moving target will be a bit more complicated this spring for participants in U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual multinational exercise.
Planners of African Lion aim to deploy soldier-like robots for use in live-fire drills in this year’s iteration. The semiautonomous machines they’re seeking can run quickly across terrain, produce sound effects and even flinch when hit.
Conventional systems have typically relied on two-dimensional targets moving laterally across a rail. But now, the command is looking to sub them out for robots that imitate human adversaries and armored vehicles by reacting to fire and providing real-time feedback.
Earlier this month, the Army published a solicitation for two robotic vehicle targets and eight robotic infantry targets to “improve the realism and difficulty of live fire training scenarios” at African Lion.
Southern European Task Force, Africa officials said it would be the first time the technology is used at African Lion.
“Robotic targetry can move, react, create surprises and create more realistic conditions under which soldiers can train,” said 1st Lt. Vincent Gasparri, director of the Bayonet Innovation Team of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is overseeing the use of the robot targets at the exercise.
The command is asking that target vehicles resemble a modern military technical truck or armored vehicle and be able to travel across rocky terrain while being hit with machine gun fire and blasts from explosives.
A programmable robotic vehicle rolls across the terrain in 2024 at Fort Liberty, N.C., since renamed Fort Bragg. U.S. Africa Command is seeking two robotic vehicle targets and eight robotic infantry targets to use this spring in the major annual exercise African Lion. (Ariana Aubuchon/U.S. Army)
It’s particularly beneficial for service members to practice firing on traveling armored vehicles with first-person view drones, which has become one of the most common strike scenarios in the Russia-Ukraine war, Gasparri said.
“We wanted to create a realistic situation and train our FPV operators against something that would be valuable on the battlefield,” he said.
Infantry robots should include a three-dimensional target mannequin between 4 feet, 1 inch and 5 feet, 9 inches tall that is mounted on a heavily armored four-wheel base, according to the solicitation.
The mannequin robots should be fully autonomous and be able to “run” up to 11 miles per hour, about the average sprinting speed for a human adult.
They should provide instant feedback to the person firing on them, including stopping, dropping flat, reducing speech or flinching.
The robots are expected to simulate how an enemy might move or react during a live-fire situation, according to the solicitation document.
They should also be able to perform tasks such as patrolling in formation, scattering for cover or chasing other fleeing targets, it said.
Gasparri said targets will be operated by contractors through a combination of programming and autonomous decision-making.
“If you hit a target with a direct fire round, it will vocalize and say something like ‘ow,’” he said. “But they can also do things like grouping and collaborative behaviors, where if one area is being hit more than the other, troops from one will move to the other. Or if there’s an explosion in one place, they’ll move rapidly away from it.”
The 173rd Airborne Brigade used similar technology in previous exercises, including Saber Junction 2024 in Germany and Swift Response 2025, one of NATO’s largest annual exercises.
African Lion 26 will take place in April across Morocco, Tunisia and Ghana, bringing together approximately 600 military participants from the U.S., France, Italy and African partner nations, according to the Army.
