Windsor-based XRC Robotics has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence for its RHINO uncrewed ground vehicle, in what the company describes as the first time the UK MoD has fast-tracked a robotic platform into frontline experimentation programmes, the company stated.
The contract, secured in February 2026, covers XRC’s modular RHINO platform, which is designed for operation in contested environments and combines high-speed performance with a modular chassis offering long-range and heavy payload capability. The system can be reconfigured between intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, logistics, and casualty evacuation roles, with the company saying operators can repair or reconfigure the platform in the field in minutes.
Cam Knighton, Founder of XRC Robotics, said the award demonstrated that the UK did not need to look abroad for world-class robotics capability. “This contract award is a defining moment for British defence innovation. By partnering with the British Army we are proving that the UK does not need to look abroad for world-class robotics. XRC is delivering a British solution for a British problem, ensuring our Armed Forces have the home-grown technological edge they need to prevail in modern conflict.”
XRC describes its offering as a fully sovereign solution, with in-house engineering, development, and manufacturing keeping intellectual property and supply chain security within the UK. The company is based in Windsor and maintains what it describes as total in-house control over the entire engineering and manufacturing lifecycle. The contract supports ongoing operations and the creation of skilled jobs in mechatronics, AI, and advanced manufacturing.
The award comes as the British Army continues to develop its approach to uncrewed ground systems as part of broader modernisation efforts. The MoD has been expanding its experimentation programmes for autonomous and robotic platforms across multiple domains, with ground systems seen as increasingly relevant to the kind of attritional, contested warfare observed in Ukraine.
This is the kind of news that brings me hope for the UK’s defence. A contractor that goes ahead and develops a device to fulfill a need before being tasked to do so. Like reading Captain Ballard’s comments about the Kraken K3 boats, a great attitude. Reminds me of how Hawkers designed and built the Hurricane in anticipation of it being required. Excellent!
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Ah but that’s how most projects used to start off back then. It was a Golden age that ended with BAE having hoovered up all the smaller players.
There Is and always has been, a vast pool of Innovators In the UK, It’s something we seem to under use but that pool seems to be getting tapped into again now.
Make Britain Great Again. It’s Great Timing…… (MGBA GT for anyone who remembers the car).
How’s your TVR ? Did It start ? Have you driven It yet ?
You can get special wheelbarrows to carry your TVR back home.
Ha… I also ended up joining the “AA” !
Both types of Rescue were needed during TVR ownership. “Hello, I’m Harry Halfwit anf I’m a TVR Owner/alcoholic”. (Pist n Broke) 😁
To be fair you would have to be pissed out your box to think buying a TVR was a good idea… infact I’ve made choices that ended up with 10 fractures that were more sensible than buying a TVR…
I’m a Speed Junkie mate. The Cerbera was at that time the fastest car around. Cost me a fortune too.
LOL, yes I own a TVR ’72 Vixen and have developed a thicker skin as a result. Some of the shite I have encountered during the restoration has been mindboggling but luckily there is always room for improvement. First of all, yes it is running (just an issue with the RVI tach and electronic ignition). With the Stage 2 cam, 0.50″ off the head, Goodparts header and Accuspark igniton through a 4″ Flowmaster silencer it has a nice, nasty bark and good snap (nowhere near enough to keep Halfwit happy but hey :-). AVO coilovers all ’round and a Painless replacement wiring harness so it has 12 fuses instead of 4 x 35amp. Currently finishing the interior then off to the alignment shop.
Out on the road soon looking for adventures most likely ending on the deck of a tow truck but I have AA and a strap set to make loading easy. I will take it the track for time trials. If I want to go fast I have a modified Mazdaspeed3 and for slow there is the ’66 Rover P5 3L or the ’67 P6 TC2000.
I could use one of those wheelbarrows Jonathan 🙂
The Mosquito is a better example, rejected, allowed to develop to prototype and then cancelled due to costs and immediate demand for fighter and 4 engine bomber requirements due to Dunkirk disaster, but the Air Ministry thankfully deliberately failed to tell DeHavilland this, who continued development alone and the rest is history. Shows how vision is vital from those in the business community, the military and where possible amongst politicians. Plus the understanding that ‘vision’ isn’t a one track vehicle, the road ahead constantly changes and adapting to it is essential.
Yes, you are quite right. My Dad (WW2 RAF ground crew, Trenchard Brat, France, North Africa, Burma, Malta, Italy on Battles 🙁 , Blenheims, Wellingtons, B24s) called it the Mossie and said it was “all things to all men” and it was truly a child of vision. Thank you for pointing that out!
I am rather disappointed that the army is still conducting UGV ‘experimentation programmes’ in 2026. A wide range of sophisticated Technology Demonstrators were available which could easily have been scaled up for frontline experimentation programmes in the 1980s. We should have first fielded UGVs decades ago.
I still remember your stories, Graham, when you were at Chertsey at MVEE/RARDE.
I notice there is no mention how many were bought, and they are still in experimentation so doesn’t really mean much IMO.
TEMU do these, my neighbour has one, It’s everso good and he exercises his dog with it … no seriously… he puts dog treats on it and the dog goes all bonkers chasing it around his garden.
Got to watch out for dog poo though, It gets flung off the rubber tracks at great velocity… you have to be able to duck.
Now let’s begin a study for a remote MBT to work alongside CH3. The UK needs to get back into heavy armour building, and a 40-tonne crewless vehicle is the inevitable next step going forward, and Britain needs to be at the forefront of it. Re-establishing a heavy armour industry is something we excelled in in the past, and we should build on that when establishing a new market opportunity.
Hi Maurice, don’t need to ‘begin a study for a remote MBT’. Been there, done that…and several decades ago! More than a study – we built it.
Project Crazy Horse was a teleoperated 56-tonne Chieftain MBT which we did at RARDE Chertsey’s UGV R&D division in 1987!
Just google ‘Project Crazy Horse Chieftain’ – there are loads of references. It is now in storage at the Tank Museum. It was done to confirm we could teleop something as big and heavy as a MBT – we were prepared to offer it as a target tank for Milan ATk platoons to fire ‘dummy rounds’ against, but MoD didn’t want it – they stuck with the manned Centurion target tank – I kid you not! That was supposedly driven by a half-drunk Irishman, so the story goes. Crazy Horse was however used on the Anneka Rice/Emlyn Hughes programme ‘Combat’ as a target tank and worked faultlessly.
I smell bullshit! This story just doesn’t add up! Sorry, but I have to call this out! You seriously expect us to believe that the Irishman was only ‘half-drunk’?!
Just googled ‘Project Crazy Horse Chieftain’ as I hadn’t heard of it. Fascinating stuff.
Thanks, Graham, for the brilliant bit of information. As they say in the motor industry, ‘Nothing is new; it’s all been done before.’ I do feel a remote battle tank is still worth considering to work alongside manned tanks, as it would expand commanders’ choices and enable more hazardous tasks to be conducted without placing much skilled personnel in unnecessary danger. In Ukraine some tactics I have observed differ very little from those used in WW2, especially across open countryside.
My remote design would be between 30-40 tonnes and armed with a smoothbore gun and countermeasures. In addition, the vehicle could be a mothership for offensive drones and recon. In some ways and not by design, 148 CH3 were never enough platforms for a protracted operation. If augmented by a similar number of remotes, then the UK could become a serious main battle tank user.
Something like the Stridsvagn 103 would be perfect. Especially in an overwatch capacity,
I think something like that is the maximum for any sort of loyal wingman. Remote control would be extremely challenging in the sort of combat cover that tanks need these days and who would guide it. If it stays hidden it could be useful but then it makes the manned platform the target not it but in forested areas control would potentially be erratic beyond pushing it into more open ground as an expendable target. Smaller flexible vehicles I suspect would be better sending into areas main battle tanks might struggle in or as scouts and would do a pretty good job of being the expendable target still if it has some serious threat to offer and could force an enemy to reveal itself because of that while allowing manned vehicles not to have to take those risks. They would also be much quieter and offer a stealth characteristic with a measure of ai operation. Couldn’t see if Rhino can be armed but I would rather see platforms of this nature gradually grow rather than to commit to unmanned large vehicles which I fear would simply be vulnerable and expensive sitting ducks. Aerial drones be they run from MBTs or accompanying vehicles would to my mind be far more useful than large loyal wingmen tanks.
I think they still have the manned target tank at the storage shed in bovington.
This is good news and particularly good to read that this a a UK focused development. A quick look at the XRC website shows that the Rhino is quite a pretty big beast at with 450kg payload and 80km range so potentially a seriously useful piece of kit.
I would be interested in seeing what type of modules are available. There was a piece on BBC news recently about a Ukrainian company building something similar and one version had a hangar system mounted with 6 VL hatches for quad copter drones making this type of platform a serious force multiplier. I just hope the British Army / MoD are looking at that type of capability. Certainly XRC are the kind of partner you’d want to move forward quickly with new ideas.
Cheers CR
Sounds like a Harley !
Typical range 80km’s with a couple of obese riders on board. “Hardley Moovingson!”
Good thing is that Harley riders are generally infinitely expendable. We wouldn’t even have to look far to sport an eye catching project name methinks if we adapted them for military use. Don’t know if ITAR would be a hurdle mind and perhaps the biggest obstacle of all would be whether Route66 is really a true reflection of the terrain they could successfully be used on.
We really shouldn’t be experimenting but implementing. The Ukraine have already demonstrated how they can be put to use. Overwatch, local recce, casualty removal and resupply.
Indeed take lessons and incorporate best design, build it in cooperation and iterate it, certainly while something supposedly superior is considered and in development down the line.