• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UK buying new bomb disposal robots

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Dec 28, IRNA
UK Military-Robots
The British government announced Thursday that it was buying a fleet of new hi-tech bomb disposal robots for ground troops under a contract worth Pnds 65 million (Dlrs 124 m).

Defence Procurement Minister Lord Drayson said that 80 six-wheeled remote controlled vehicles, known as Cutlass, were being purchased from Remotec, a British subsidiary of the American military manufacture Northrop Grumman.

"Cutlass will provide an essential capability for those brave men and women who conduct bomb disposal activities, and who put their lives at risk in order to ensure the safety of civilians and their comrades on operations abroad and at home in the UK," Drayson said.

The new vehicles were said to be faster, nimbler and better powered that the iconic 'Wheelbarrow' robots which UK has used since they were first used by bomb disposal operators in Northern Ireland back in the 1970s.

"This is good news for our troops and good news for industry. It demonstrates the considerable expertise available from British engineers to support the UK's efforts to defeat terrorism," the minister said in announcing the purchase.

He said the "availability of technology to terrorists has altered the complexity of the explosive devices we face and how they are being used."

The new robots, which the UK is hoping to start to bring into service by the end of the decade, were described as having excellent mobility to travel across a range of terrain.

2220/345/1416