FARNBOROUGH, England, 28 Dec. 2006. The Remotec subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp. in Whitley, England, is teaming with QinetiQ in Farnborough, England, to build the Cutlass bomb-disposal unmanned ground vehicle.

Remotec and team member QinetiQ have been appointed prime contractor for Phase II of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) Cutlass robotics program, which will provide the next generation of unmanned ground vehicle for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) for anti-terrorism operations worldwide. The bulk of deliveries will take place in 2010.

The Cutlass system offers modular technology that enables bomb-disposal experts to deal with military and improvised explosive devices. Its large and rugged design can accommodate a wide range of payloads, sensors, and tools.

The Cutlass manipulator arm has a gripper and nine degrees of freedom to operate inside limited spaces, such as the interior of a car. The robot is able to creep along slowly for delicate operations and may accelerate quickly. The six-wheeled design offers mobility on all types of hard and soft terrain and in all weather conditions.

QinetiQ is providing the vehicle command-and-control systems. QinetiQ's operator command console will combine manual commands with software to provide functionality.