Textron debuts RIPSAW M1 combat robot at Marine Expo

Textron Systems and its subsidiary Howe & Howe pulled the wraps off a new unmanned ground vehicle at Modern Day Marine on April 28, 2026 — a wheeled robotic platform built specifically around the Marine Corps’ vision of how autonomous systems should fight alongside its existing armored fleet.

The vehicle is called the RIPSAW M1, and it is the first variant in a new line of vehicles, built on a Modular Open Systems Approach architecture that Textron Systems designed explicitly to scale — meaning the M1 is not a one-off concept but the opening entry in a family.

The specifications tell a story about a vehicle designed for speed, agility, and payload versatility rather than heavy protection. The M1 weighs 4,300 pounds at curb weight and carries a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,300 pounds — meaning it can accept up to 2,000 pounds of mission payload on its flat-deck surface. It measures 10.5 feet long, five feet wide, and four feet tall, a compact profile that enables easier transport, faster staging, and seamless integration with distributed units operating across dispersed positions. Ground clearance sits at 18 inches. The turning radius is 7.5 feet — tight enough to operate in urban terrain and confined maneuver spaces where larger vehicles struggle. Top speed in high range reaches 53 miles per hour, with a low-range setting at 20 miles per hour for deliberate movement. The drivetrain is all-electric, delivering 30 miles of silent range — a characteristic with obvious tactical value when acoustic signature determines whether a reconnaissance vehicle gets detected before it completes its mission. Fording depth of 48 inches means the M1 can cross water obstacles that would stop most wheeled platforms without modification.

That fording capability connects directly to the Marine Corps mission set the M1 is built around. The vehicle is designed to move quickly across contested littoral environments, urban terrain, and tight maneuver spaces — the exact operating conditions that define Marine Corps Force Design 2030, the Corps’ ongoing structural and doctrinal transformation for large-scale Pacific combat. Dispersed operations across islands and coastal zones, where heavy armor is hard to transport and human exposure to enemy fires must be minimized, demand exactly what the M1 offers: a compact, fast, electrically silent platform that can be rapidly deployed and reconfigured for whatever the mission requires.

The RIPSAW name carries history. Howe & Howe, the Maine-based company Textron operates as a subsidiary, has been building RIPSAW vehicles for over a decade across various programs. The M1 represents the latest expansion of that compact robotic platform lineage, reoriented toward Marine Corps requirements — specifically as a robotic force multiplier for the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle and the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, the two manned platforms it is designed to operate alongside under Force Design 2030.

The missions the M1 demonstrator is built to support are operationally significant. Hard-kill counter-UAS — physically destroying enemy drones rather than jamming them — is one of the most pressing tactical problems facing ground forces across every theater where drones have proliferated. Reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition extend the sensor reach of a formation without requiring a Marine to move into an exposed position. The vehicle is also envisioned as a loitering munition launch platform — putting precision fires into the fight from a ground vehicle without requiring a manned aircraft or fixed launcher. The multi-tube launcher array visible on the demonstrator’s flat deck underscores that the fires mission is not theoretical. That combination of counter-drone, reconnaissance, and strike capability in a single unmanned wheeled platform is a meaningful tactical package.

The flat-deck payload architecture is central to the M1’s value proposition. Simple deck integration allows operators to swap mission kits — sensor packages, launcher systems, logistics loads, electronic warfare payloads — without specialized tools or prolonged reconfiguration time. A vehicle that arrives configured for reconnaissance can be reconfigured for counter-UAS or logistics support at the unit level, without returning to a depot. That flexibility is what the Marine Corps means when it talks about doing more with less.

Sara Willett, Vice President of Programs at Textron Systems, framed the demonstrator’s purpose directly: “The M1 technology demonstrator shows the art of the possible for how UGVs can support the Marine Corps’ missions.” She elaborated on the engineering approach: “Along with Howe & Howe, we took our experience in autonomous robotic systems across land, air and sea — the same domains the Marine Corps’ missions live — to develop this system that demonstrates our ability to scale the SWAP up or down, all while maintaining the common robotic core that enables our UGVs to provide exceptional transportability and battlefield agility.”

The MOSA design philosophy running through the M1 is not just an engineering preference — it is increasingly a requirement in Department of War procurement. Open architecture systems allow government and third-party developers to integrate new capabilities, sensors, and software without being locked into a single vendor’s proprietary stack. For an unmanned ground vehicle that will need to accept new payloads, updated autonomy software, and evolving mission equipment over a service life that could span decades, MOSA compliance is the difference between a platform that stays current and one that becomes a maintenance burden.