U.S. Army fields AZAK robotic wheel system in Germany

U.S. Army soldiers in Germany are training with AZAK’s S26 unmanned ground vehicle. On Oct. 21, troops from 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment used the robot to evacuate a casualty during a platoon situational training exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, the first field use of the system by the Vilseck-based regiment since it began receiving the vehicles.

The regiment took delivery of the first three of 26 AZAK vehicles last week through the U.S. Army’s Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate, a hub set up to get new technology to soldiers quickly, AZAK CEO Ben Meager told Stars and Stripes. The deal follows the Other Transaction Agreement that AZAK signed with the directorate after soldiers tested the system, and the company says the 2nd Cavalry Regiment is the first unit in the U.S. military to receive a wide-scale rollout of the vehicle.

During the exercise, soldiers from Eagle Troop’s 1st Platoon fought an entrenched opposition force atop a hill, cleared an enemy trench using paint rounds and evacuated a simulated casualty minutes before a counterattack. A medic prepared the soldier in the trench, the platoon strapped him onto the vehicle’s flat board, and Sgt. Egan McDermott walked behind the robot with a handheld controller as it carried him to the rear.

“It feels like a ‘Call of Duty’ game, like a future warfare type thing, but it’s happening right now in real life,” said Sgt. Justin Whitlock, Eagle Troop’s senior medic.

Whitlock said platforms like the S26 ease the strain on soldiers by sparing them from carrying stretchers or boxes of ammunition over rough terrain. McDermott, a mortarman from 2nd Squadron, had used the same vehicle the night before to haul a 60 mm mortar system, a Bangalore torpedo and other heavy weapons, covering 8 km (5 miles) of rough ground with a full combat load in just over an hour while wearing night vision.

The Denver-based company builds its vehicles around the S26 wheel, which it first showed publicly at DSEI 2025. Each wheel contains the full drive system of an electric vehicle, including the motor, motor controller, brakes and battery, so the company can scale a vehicle’s power by adding wheels instead of redesigning a drivetrain. In the configuration the 2nd Cavalry Regiment is using, known as the Stoat, four wheels lock onto a small frame topped with a board that can hold a stretcher, ammunition or a mortar tube. The wheels can be swapped out by unlatching two buckles and keep the vehicle moving even if two of them are badly damaged or punctured, McDermott said.

Meager said the Stoat can carry well over 230 kg (500 pounds) over a range of 32 to 97 km (20 to 60 miles), depending on load and terrain, and can be driven remotely or run autonomously. The same wheels can be fitted to other equipment, from weapons to communications systems, and the vehicle can also carry and launch drones, he said. Earlier this year, the company showed a 227 kg (500-pound) version of the robot towing a 24,040 kg (53,000-pound) Palletized Load System truck.

“It’s really kind of cool to see how much Army tech can develop and evolve,” said McDermott.

The U.S. Army evaluated the platform through 2025 at events including the xTechOverwatch competition and a rotation at the National Training Center, where soldiers put the wheel-centric design over rough terrain, and AZAK brought a second-generation version to the AUSA Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, in March.

Ground robots have become a regular part of casualty evacuation in Ukraine, where troops increasingly use them to pull wounded soldiers off the front line, and this week the Ukrainian military said it had evacuated a wounded soldier by aerial drone for the first time.

With three vehicles delivered, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has 23 more S26 Stoats to receive.