Navy issues a second urgent order for anti-terrorism bomb-disposal robots
BURLINGTON, Mass., 15 Sept. 2005. Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense have made their second urgent order in a week for Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) bomb-disposal equipment.
I-Robot Corp. in Burlington, Mass., won a $95.6 million contract modification Sept. 14 to increase the number of available MTRS units from 250 to 1200. The MTRS is a small robotic system used for remote reconnaissance of unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices.
The order comes from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command Indian Head Division in Indian Head, Md. The original contract number is N00174-03-D-0003.
Navsea Indian Head officials on Sept. 7 issued a $96.1 million contract modification to Foster-Miller Inc. in Waltham, Mass., to provide an additional 250 to 1,200 MTRS production units.
In making the Sept. 7 order, Navy officials emphasized that the increase in production quantity is due to the urgent and compelling need for units that are forward deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Engineers at I-Robot Corp. will do the work in Burlington, Mass., and will be finished by October 2012.
The MTRS, which will be able to operate in urban and rural environments, is a modular system that will allow interoperability with future mission packages such as chemical and nuclear detectors, EOD render safe tools, EOD disruption tools, and EOD disposal tools.
The system architecture (of the MTRS will be expandable and inherently upgradeable to allow for future enhancements.
