Feb 11, 2026 - Technology

Exclusive: Marine Corps taps Kodiak for ROGUE-Fires autonomy

Colin Demarest

U.S. military vehicle unloading from gray ship near rocky shore with Marines in camouflage and helmets. Green mountains and blue water are in the background. — Marines load up a Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in September 2025. Photo: Nicholas Figueroa/DVIDS

The U.S. Marine Corps tapped Kodiak AI to install its autonomy aboard the ROGUE-Fires vehicle, an integral part of a ship-sinking missile launcher known as NMESIS, among other potential setups.

Why it matters: It's another foot in the defense door for the California company, which previously worked with the Army on robotic combat vehicles and the Air Force on the flight line of the future.

"This is a clear indication of the military, in general, wanting to move toward commercially mature technologies," CEO Don Burnette told Axios.

"I think defense is going to be a massive opportunity in the next decade."

State of play: Kodiak expects its "Driver" to be integrated on an actual ROGUE-Fires early this summer. A surrogate vehicle will be used in the interim.

"We're not building a separate, bespoke AI Driver for military applications. We're building a unified AI Driver," Bobby Bonello, head of defense business development, told Axios.
"We're on a Class 8 commercial truck. We take that exact same system and we put it on an F-150. We take that exact same system and we put it on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. We take that exact same system and we put it on a Textron M3."

The intrigue: Kodiak is perhaps most well known for its autonomous trucking endeavor. It's run driverless routes for over a year now.

Follow the money: The Pentagon's fiscal 2026 budget blueprint allocated $13.4 billion for autonomy and autonomous systems. That included:

$9.4 billion for aerial drones
$210 million for ground vehicles

Friction point: Kodiak declined to disclose the value of the Marine Corps contract. It was awarded in January.

Go deeper: Defense industry heaps praise on Hegseth's weapons-buying reformation

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Exclusive: Marine Corps taps Kodiak for ROGUE-Fires autonomy

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