General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) has signed a master teaming agreement with Primordial Labs to put natural language command and control on ground combat vehicles, according to a company announcement.
The deal pairs GDLS’s vehicle design and integration experience with Anura, Primordial Labs’ Natural Language Command and Control (NLC2) software. Crews will state their goals, objectives and constraints, and the software will direct on-board systems to carry them out.
How Anura works
Primordial Labs will expand Anura’s integration across the GDLS vehicle portfolio. Crews no longer need to work through menus and manual controls for each task. Anura interacts with sensors, displays, communications and uncrewed systems, which would otherwise need dedicated operator stations.
The software runs entirely at the edge, with no cloud reachback. That keeps it available in contested environments where communications are denied.
Easing the burden on crews
Each new capability added to a combat vehicle has traditionally brought a new control scheme, more training and extra crew workload. Anura aims to end that cycle. A single interface absorbs each new subsystem or software update as it is integrated. The US Army and Marine Corps can then field new technology across platforms as quickly as it is developed.
Industry perspective
Primordial Labs CEO Lee Ritholtz said the Army wants any soldier in any formation to control any system intuitively. He described Anura as the interface that lets a small armoured crew work with everything from mission systems to uncrewed teammates.
Keith Barclay, vice president and general manager of US operations at GDLS, called natural-language control a critical enabler of greater lethality with a smaller crew. He said it also reduces physical workload and improves cognitive performance for maneuver combat teams.
Barclay said GDLS will integrate Anura onto platforms including the Abrams tank and its next-generation combat vehicles.
Learn more on General Dynamics Land Systems website
