Teledyne FLIR Defense has signed a contract with the US Armed Services for the provision of nearly 500 additional Centaur Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), spares, antennas, and payload mounting kits for the US Army, Navy, and other command centers.
This latest award raises the value of the original Man Transportable Robot System Increment II (MTRS Inc. II) contract from around $190 million to over $250 million.
The Centaur is a medium-sized UGV that provides a standoff capability to detect, confirm, identify, and dispose of hazards. Weighing 160 pounds, the Interoperability Protocol (IOP)-compliant robot features an advanced EO/IR camera suite, a manipulator arm that reaches over six feet, and the ability to climb stairs.
It is currently used by Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams to disable unexploded ordnance (UXO), improvised explosive devices, landmines, and to perform similar dangerous tasks.
Operators can attach different sensors and payloads to the robot easily and quickly to address other missions, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats.
In 2017, the Army chose Centaur as its MTRS Inc. II solution for a multi-year program of record. Since then, other US military branches have opted to deploy Centaur to their EOD units as a new or replacement ground robot system. Since 2020, Teledyne FLIR has announced orders totaling more than 1,800 Centaurs from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
“Our Centaur platform continues to prove itself as one of the most versatile and sought after tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to support America’s military,” said Tom Frost, general manager of Unmanned Ground Systems at Teledyne FLIR Defense. “Our team is honored to play a role in providing technology US warfighters depend on for risky and sometimes deadly missions.
“Centaur also can be used effectively for UXO clearance in hotspots such as Ukraine, and with global security threats on the rise, allied nations can leverage this multi-purpose robot to support a wide array of manned/unmanned operations.”
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