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| Posted: April 23, 2009 |
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Military Robots in the Field |
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The military has deployed thousands of robots in Iraq and Afghanistan, including aerial vehicles and ground robots. The next step may be robots with guns -- versions have already been developed, although so far military leaders have been hesitant to deploy them. Two experts take your questions. |
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Pierre Sprey is a weapons analyst and engineer with decades of experience in weapons system development, both inside the Pentagon and in private industry. Together with Cols. John Boyd and Everest Riccioni, he started and then brought the F-16 to fruition. In parallel, he led the technical side of the A-10's conceptual design team and helped implement the A-10 program. He has also worked for 20 years on design and operational testing of tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry anti-tank weapons and small arms. Bob Quinn is a vice president at Foster-Miller, a division of QinetiQ North America, which produces the TALON robot used to handle improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Foster-Miller also developed the armed MAARS robot, which carries a light machine gun. MAARS has not yet been deployed, but an earlier version of the robot was tested in Iraq. Prior to joining Foster-Miller he was president and CEO of Starmet Corporation, which produces metallurgical products for defense, aerospace and medical devices. |
 Transcript: Military Expanding Role of Robots on the Battlefield
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