US prepares micro-UGVs for Afghanistan evaluation
The US DoD will shortly deploy hundreds of ‘ultra-lightweight’ UGVs to Afghanistan ahead of a proposed procurement of some 5,000 systems later this year, sources have revealed.
Speaking to Shephard, industry officials confirmed that the UGVs have been delivered to the DoD this week ahead of an in-theatre operational assessment which is scheduled to run until June.
It is understood that iRobot (110 FirstLook), Qinetiq (Dragon Runner), MacroUSA (Armadillo) and ReconRobotics (Recon Scout XT) have all supplied approximately one hundred systems each to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) which is handling the requirement on behalf of
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