A selection of the latest air and land unmanned vehicles and weapon sights technologies currently being tested and evaluated for future operational use has been unveiled to MOD employees.

Military and civilian personnel at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) in Bristol were recently treated to a demonstration of various items which could improve the capability of UK troops in theatre.

Amongst the items the personnel saw was a small hand-held wheeled robot equipped with real-time cameras that can be thrown into a building to show troops what is inside.

The personnel were also shown an easy to launch, remote-controlled, four-rotor-headed helicopter, complete with surveillance equipment, sending real-time images back to a wristwatch monitor or to specially modified goggles; and clip-on lightweight thermal weapon sights for spotting targets at night.

Major General Alan Macklin, Head of the Programmes and Technology Group at DE&S, said

"It is vital that UK forces keep their technological edge on the battlefield.

"We work with industry to see how we can best pull through the innovative technologies available, develop them and then put them into the hands of the soldiers, sailors and airmen on the front line in the form of useable equipment."

Maj Gen Macklin continued:

"Keeping the technological edge is critical to campaign success and by focusing investment on new and novel technologies we can ensure we keep ahead of the threat.

"If you look at the equipment soldiers are using today compared to five years ago, it is completely different and that is down to us investing in innovation and developing technology for military use."

Based at MOD Abbey Wood, the Defence Equipment and Support mission is to equip and support operations now and in the future.

Part of that commitment is to continually investigate new technology and concepts in order to ensure that innovative ideas are exploited to deliver new equipment to the front line as quickly as possible.

UK MoD
21.10.2009