Mach Selected to Supply Autonomy for BLADE’s Hunter WOLF in U.S. Army Infantry Last Tactical Mile Program.
Backed by 15 years of autonomous off-road operations and U.S. and European defense deployments, Mach’s factory-integrated autonomy will power the 6×6 hybrid-electric UGV through 2027 Army operational assessments
FINKSBURG, MD., OCTOBER 21, 2026 – Mach today announced its selection as the autonomy technology partner to HDT Robotics, LLC, doing business as BLADE, for the U.S. Army’s Infantry Last Tactical Mile (ILTM) program. Building on more than a decade of defense robotics heritage and active collaborations with defense contractors across the United States and Europe, Mach is integrating its ruggedized, full-stack autonomy system onto BLADE’s Hunter WOLF 6×6 hybrid-electric uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV), one of six platforms the Army selected in August for prototype development.
Under the prototype award to BLADE, Mach provides the onboard autonomy software, rugged edge compute, and multi-modal sensor architecture that allow the Hunter WOLF to perceive, navigate, and execute missions beyond the operator’s line of sight. Mach will support BLADE through upcoming Army demonstrations and a soldier-led Operational Assessment scheduled for early 2027, which will inform the Army’s production decision for next-generation autonomous infantry systems.
The Infantry Last Tactical Mile program targets the high-risk contested zone between rear support areas and the forward line of own troops, where resupply convoys and casualty movement expose soldiers and vehicle crews to direct fire, artillery, and pervasive reconnaissance. Equipped with Mach autonomy, the Hunter WOLF is designed to haul up to 2,800 pounds of critical sustainment cargo into forward positions and rapidly reconfigure to evacuate casualties on locked NATO litters.
The Tier-1 autonomy model: defense heritage meets production scale
The ILTM selection builds on Mach’s defense lineage and active collaborations with defense contractors across the United States and Europe, spanning autonomous combat-engineering and counter-mine platforms, tactical wheeled vehicles, and U.S. Navy airfield autonomy. Across defense and heavy off-road sectors including earthmoving, construction, mining, and land management, hundreds of Mach-equipped vehicles on 40+ platforms in 15+ countries have logged over 250,000 hours of real-world autonomous operation in high-dust, high-vibration environments.
As the Department of Defense moves away from bespoke, single-vendor robotics programs,
Mach delivers autonomy as a Tier-1 modular layer that manufacturers integrate directly at the factory. Platforms like the Hunter WOLF gain battle-ready autonomy without redesigning the base machine or funding costly custom drive-by-wire conversions.
Engineered for contested, GPS-degraded environments
Perception, obstacle avoidance, and dynamic path planning run entirely onboard at the edge, with no continuous satellite navigation, data link, or remote server required to keep moving. Mach’s patent-pending RadX phased-array radar fused with ruggedized stereo vision and LiDAR sees through dense dust, battlefield smoke, heavy foliage, and total darkness that blind camera-only and LiDAR-only systems.
When electronic warfare, jamming, or terrain disrupts GPS and RF links, the vehicle continues executing its mission onboard with assured positioning and fail-safe obstacle response rather than stalling in place. Soldiers can assign waypoint routes, command leader-follower movement behind dismounted squads or lead vehicles, or assume direct teleoperation using the handheld Mach Pilot controller or a standard ruggedized military tablet.
“The Army doesn’t need another fragile science project that only runs when a team of engineers is babysitting it on a test range,” said Colin Hurd, founder and CEO of Mach. “Our team has spent over a decade fielding autonomy on military and heavy off-road platforms across the U.S. and Europe. By delivering autonomy as a factory-integrated Tier-1 system rather than a bespoke retrofit, we give defense primes a mission-ready brain at commercial production scale.”
About Mach
Mach delivers factory-integrated, platform-agnostic autonomy for military and heavy off-road vehicles. Combining more than a decade of U.S. defense robotics lineage with commercial production scale, the Mach stack integrates patent-pending RadX phased-array radar, ruggedized stereo vision, edge compute, resilient mesh networking, and tactical command-and-control software across defense, construction, mining, earthmoving, and heavy industrial fleets. Learn more at mach.io.