Autonomous combat mission systems developer Forterra recently secured the U.S. Army Sandhills 2.0 Autonomous Breaching and Terrain Shaping Operations contract. The award builds on the company's ongoing participation in U.S. Army integration exercises, where its autonomous systems have been incorporated into breaching operations alongside the Sandhills 2.0 SLICE system.

The U.S. Department of Defense launched the Sandhills 2.0 project to accelerate the transition from prototyping to operationally fielding autonomous breaching and terrain-shaping capabilities. The program builds directly on the capabilities in the first Sandhills project, expanding the U.S. Army’s ability to conduct autonomous breaching and obstacle‑shaping operations in contested environments.  

Under the Sandhills 2.0 contract, Forterra is delivering fully integrated autonomous mission systems on Ford F-250 vehicles for the US Army, to autonomously handle zone-clearing and line-charging deployments, while integrating commercial technologies from industry partners for threat identification, breaching, counter-mobility, and CUAS.  

The program reflects the Army’s growing emphasis on rapidly fielding integrated commercial capabilities that can evolve as technology advances.

"The Army doesn't need another autonomous vehicle effort—it needs integrated autonomous mission capability delivered at operational speed," said Forterra Vice President of Defense Growth Pat Acox. "Soldiers don't employ products. They employ effects. Sandhills 2.0 shows what's possible when we stop optimizing on piece parts and start optimizing on complete mission systems—bringing together best-of-breed commercial technologies into a single deployable capability that compresses the timeline from innovation to operational impact."