01 · KINETIC ENGAGEMENT
Discriminated effects across austere terrain.
The MK-VII delivers persistent overwatch and discriminated kinetic effect across littoral, sub-canopy and steep-grade environments inaccessible to wheeled or tracked platforms. Strategic intent — what to achieve, where, by when, and against which class of opponent — is supplied by the cleared formation commander; tactical execution, including target prioritisation among lawfully designated combatants, is determined by the mob in real time. Two-stage hardware-level human authorisation is required at every kinetic release; tactical autonomy below that threshold is by design. Compliant with the Australian Targeting Directive and all Article 36 obligations.
02 · PERSISTENT RECONNAISSANCE
Below the threshold of detection.
Low acoustic, thermal and EM signatures permit undetected ingress through eucalypt canopy, mulga, savannah and coastal heath. The onboard AUSTRAL-7 system fuses optical, IR, LiDAR and acoustic streams in real time; runs edge-resident behavioural models for biofidelic gait and saltatorial-cycle control; and operates the mesh consensus protocol that lets a mob act as a single coordinated tactical entity. Mobs operate without persistent uplink for up to 96 hours.
03 · MODULAR LOGISTICS
Reconfigurable in under ninety seconds.
The ventral pouch bay accepts any payload in compliance with the MIL-STD-810H modular form factor: sensor stacks, casualty-care modules, autonomous resupply cassettes, electronic warfare suites, or developer-defined experimental loads. Field-swappable by a single operator without specialist tooling.
04 · COLLECTIVE TACTICAL AUTONOMY
The mob.
The MK-VII does not operate alone. Between four and forty platforms self-organise into a mob — the standing collective noun for macropods, retained here as a term of art — networked through the AUSTRAL-7 consensus mesh. Within an operator-supplied strategic objective, the mob determines its own ingress routing, formation, sensor disposition, target prioritisation, mutual-fires support and withdrawal conditions, in real time and without persistent uplink. Tactical autonomy below the kinetic-release threshold is by design. Human authorisation is required at every kinetic release; tactical execution is not.
Note on terminology
The MK-VII is, strictly, a bipedal-saltatorial hopper with pentapedal slow movement: at operational speed the two hind limbs and the caudal stabiliser carry all locomotion; at slow speed the forelimbs and the tail jointly bear the body's weight in the gait pattern characteristic of macropods. The Group prefers this descriptor to the popular "quadrupedal" — accurate of the limb count, inaccurate of the gait — when technical precision is required.