Navy to continue buys of bomb-disposal unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) from iRobot in $230.1 million contract

April 13, 2011
INDIAN HEAD, Md., 13 April 2011. Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) designers at iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass., are providing the U.S. Navy with small bomb-disposal robots under terms of a $230.1 million contract announced Tuesday from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, in Indian Head, Md. The company will provide its PackBot man-transportable robotic system (MTRS) for Navy and U.S. Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technicians to search for, neutralize, destroy, or otherwise dispose of explosives -- especially the improvised explosive device (IED) roadside bombs that plague U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

INDIAN HEAD, Md., 13 April 2011.Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) designers at iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass., are providing the U.S. Navy with small bomb-disposal robots under terms of a $230.1 million contract announced Tuesday from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, in Indian Head, Md.

The company will provide its PackBot man-transportable robotic system (MTRS) for Navy and U.S. Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technicians to search for, neutralize, destroy, or otherwise dispose of explosives -- especially the improvised explosive device (IED) roadside bombs that plague U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robotic technicians from iRobot customize PackBot MTRS UGVs for the Navy with tools and sensors that help explosives-disposal experts detect, identify and disable explosives from safe distances.

The Navy has relied on iRobot to deliver hundreds of bomb-disposal robots in recent years. On this latest contract iRobot will do the work in Bedford, Mass., and should be finished by April 2015.

For more information contact iRobot online at www.irobot.com/gi, or the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, at www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/indianhead.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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