U.S. Army soldiers used a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to carry five Swarmbotics AI FireAnt unmanned ground vehicles during the Pegasus Charge 3 test exercise, a 1st Cavalry Division-led event that is part of the Army's Transformation in Contact modernization initiative.

The FireAnt is a 27-kilogram, low-cost, attritable small unmanned ground vehicle developed by Swarmbotics AI. The company says the system can be configured for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and anti-armor missions, and it relies on artificial intelligence to enable coordinated swarm behavior. Swarmbotics announced in February that the Army had selected the firm to produce swarming, attritable small UGVs to advance the Transformation in Contact (TiC) effort with the 1st Cavalry Division, an outcome of its participation in the xTech Overwatch competition last year.

The footage, posted on LinkedIn on August 26, 2026, showed the Bradley with the five FireAnts mounted on its side storage racks. It was not clear whether the UGVs were released remotely from within the vehicle or manually unloaded. The Bradley's side racks are normally used for explosive reactive armor blocks, but the vehicle could also carry additional FireAnts internally and deploy them through the rear ramp. A stock image of a current-generation M2A4 Bradley with ERA fitted on the side and front was included in the report.

The Army has previously demonstrated that Bradleys can act as forward control nodes for UGVs, allowing manned crews to direct small unmanned systems from a protected position. The test also built on earlier trials in which FireAnts were launched from larger UGVs, illustrating a layered approach to crewed-unmanned teaming that could keep soldiers farther from the front line.

Swarmbotics AI noted that a squad-size unit operated ten FireAnts during the xTech Overwatch competition, and that the system's AI enables it to perform tasks autonomously while maintaining communication with human operators. The company's CEO, Stephen Houghton, said the goal is to employ many inexpensive robots to create multiple dilemmas for adversaries at a fraction of the cost of traditional platforms.

The broader context includes recent use of various unmanned ground systems in the conflict in Ukraine, where UGVs are typically operated via direct or semi-autonomous links and face electronic warfare threats. The development of AI-enabled autonomy and swarm tactics is expected to influence future ground combat capabilities.

The image of the Bradley carrying the FireAnt swarm at Pegasus Charge 3 may indicate a direction for future Army capabilities, though the specific role of the FireAnt in the force structure remains undetermined.