Playing With Fire: Showing off prototype vehicles at AUSA

Josh Welton’s day job in General Dynamics Land Systems’ prototype shop doesn’t lend itself well to sharing the day-to-day nuances. That all changed when he got to see his work on display at the AUSA annual expo. Images: Josh Welton

Recently I had the privilege of working at a trade convention on behalf of my full-time employer, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). The Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) hosts an annual exposition in Washington, D.C., where defense contractors worldwide come to show off their latest achievements and military hardware offerings.

Because the event is public, this was a rare opportunity to share some of my work. Being a driver/mechanic/fabricator in a giant contractor’s prototype shop for the Department of Defense is a fantastic gig. Still, in a day and age when everyone is sharing everything they do on social media, I’m restricted from showing any badass stuff that I toil to build daily.

2010 was a landmark year for me and the world. It’s the year I started working at GDLS and the year that Instagram found its way onto our phones. One of the reasons tightly cropped welding pictures became a trend early on Instagram was because they were all I could post. Even then, most of my “#weldporn” photos were just practice runs on scrap metal. I’d get crap from online trolls about how “real” fabricators show off their whole projects, not just little glimpses of showy welds or, worse yet, “art.” A few would mock me by saying things like, “Sure, this dude works in a secret shop. What a load of BS!”

As if I was lying to make excuses for not uploading whole projects. You know, because according to the trolls, all I did was sit at a bench making small-scale sculptures and pretty 3-in. TIG welds, all while the legit welders worked on pipe or built heavy machinery. One guy on an automotive forum who disagreed with some welding advice I’d given argued, ”Dude, you build toys, I build race cars that save lives!” I just laughed and replied, “You save lives building race cars, huh? I build tanks motherf@$&cker,” dropping the mic on my way out.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve fully embraced being an artist, and I still dig posting pics of pretty welds. But the stuff I’ve shared on social media over my career is maybe 1% of all the work I do. All of this is to say that there is some satisfaction in showing the stuff I build daily.

GDLS is a behemoth, but there’s a small group of us who make things happen in the prototype shop. The engineering and fabricating talent we have per capita is incredible. All of us make a lot of sacrifices in time and travel as we create and test the next generation of military vehicles to keep our soldiers lethal and protected. GDLS puts a lot of time and effort into the AUSA event, ensuring we put our best foot forward to present the Army with the smartest, safest, most innovative, intuitive, efficient, and sustainable products necessary to protect the U.S.

I’ve had a hand in some of the prototype vehicles shown at the AUSA show in past years. In 2018 I spent many hot and humid summer days using the GMAW-P process to build the aluminum turret on the Griffin III from the ground up. In 2020 the show was virtual, but GDLS’s star was the new Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) light tank. In April last year, the then U.S. Secretary of the Army, Hon. Ryan D. McCarthy, and Gen. Joseph M. Martin visited our facilities, and I drove the tank out for them to check it out. So far we have built 12 full pre-production MPF tanks that the Army has been testing, along with two blast assets. It’s a light tank with loads of horsepower and a giant cannon. It’s pretty much a hot rod on tracks.

In 2021 the AUSA show was downsized but in person, and I had the opportunity to attend for the first time.

This year’s theme was heavy on autonomous-capable and hybrid platforms, and we brought three unique but complementary vehicles. The TRX is a robotic 10-ton tracked beast that can be set up to re-supply, defend, attack, clear, or do just about anything, depending on how it is outfitted. The MUTT is another versatile robotic platform that has almost unlimited uses. The first of its kind to be used to support dismounted troops, it has a remote control (yes, it is fun to drive), can turn on a dime, and has a tether that a soldier can connect to so it’ll follow them while they walk. This version was just the flatbed, but back in the prototype shop I’ve had a hand in building a few variations that are, let’s just say, a bit more exciting.

And then there was the tank. It’s a concept vehicle, a design exercise on the outside and a tech demonstrator for the new Katalyst electronic architecture on the inside. It can be driven but is also autonomous-capable with a hybrid drivetrain.

GDLS described it at the show as this: “Katalyst NGEA significantly improves warfighter effectiveness via enhanced mobility (obstacle avoidance, path planning); lethality (object detection, object identification/recognition, automated target prioritization); and survivability/reconnaissance (360-degree situational awareness, see-through armor, terrain analysis).”

General Dynamics Land Systems displays the latest variant of its TRX Robotic Combat Vehicle during AUSA 2021.

In the month leading up to the show, I, along with a few of my talented friends in the prototype shop, worked 12-hour days to bring the designer’s vision to life. One-off stuff is always fun, and this was a pretty neat project even compared to the other wild things we get to tackle. The tech inside was the important stuff, but hopefully, the styling turned enough heads that it’ll influence the next tank we build.

Even though the show was shrunk due to the pandemic, it was incredible for a first-year attendee like me. Ghost Robotics demonstrated remote-controlled (also drone capable), dog-like machines with attachments like sniper rifles and grapplers. Of course, Boston Dynamics showed out, too, with a similar-looking robot dancing on an obstacle course and rolling over for treats. While we could drive our vehicles right up to the display, watching companies like Bell assemble their massive aircraft inside the convention center was a sight to behold. On the other end of the spectrum, companies like Glock and Smith & Wesson showed all sorts of small arms. As I chatted with the Leatherman rep, he told me about a conversation he had with a former soldier whose Leatherman multitool wouldn’t open anymore. When he asked to see it, a slug was lodged in it. The rep gave him a new one and told him to pass the lifesaver down to his grandchildren.

Overall, the 2021 AUSA show was an extraordinary experience, kind of like my job. Only this time I have the pics to prove it.

General Dynamics Land Systems displays the latest variant of its TRX Robotic Combat Vehicle during AUSA 2021.