Jackal
Supacat-built high-mobility wheeled patrol vehicle used by the British Army; basis for an optionally crewed UGV variant in development with ARX Robotics.
Last refreshed: 29 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How close is the Jackal to becoming an optionally crewed autonomous British Army platform?
Timeline for Jackal
Ukraine pulls in Europe's robot supply
Autonomous Systems: Land & Sea- What is the British Army Jackal vehicle?
- The Jackal is a British high-mobility wheeled patrol vehicle made by Supacat, in service with the British Army and allied special forces. It is air-portable, fast across rough terrain, and can carry weapon mounts or logistics loads.
- Is the Jackal being converted to an autonomous vehicle?
- ARX Robotics and Supacat signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 28 April 2026 to develop an optionally crewed variant of the Jackal, allowing it to operate with or without a crew in high-threat environments, with UK-based manufacturing.Source: Army Technology
- Who makes the Jackal vehicle and where is it built?
- The Jackal is designed and manufactured by Supacat, based in Devon, England. The ARX-Supacat partnership is intended to keep the optionally crewed variant's manufacturing on UK soil.Source: Army Technology
Background
The Jackal is a British high-mobility, air-portable patrol vehicle made by Supacat and in service with the British Army and allied special operations forces. In April 2026 it became the candidate for the UK's first optionally crewed land platform, when ARX Robotics and Supacat signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop an autonomous-capable Jackal variant with UK-based manufacturing.
The Jackal is a proven battlefield platform, designed for rapid overland movement and patrol in demanding terrain. Its open-frame design makes it lighter and faster than armoured vehicles, trading protection for mobility and payload flexibility. British Army variants carry weapon mounts, communications equipment, or logistics loads. The optionally crewed conversion would preserve all those roles while allowing the vehicle to operate without personnel aboard in high-threat environments such as mine-contaminated ground or direct-fire zones.
The ARX-Supacat partnership aims to combine ARX's autonomy software stack with Supacat's established supply chain and maintenance network in the UK. For the British Army's land autonomy ambitions, the Jackal variant represents a lower-risk integration PATH than fielding an entirely new vehicle: a known, tested platform gains autonomy as a software-and-sensor upgrade rather than a clean-sheet design.
