Armed robots.

I just read the article, "First Armed Ground Robot Readied for Deployment," in your June issue of National Defense. The article is excellent. However, I was disheartened to read in the story that the SWORDS robot is made up of only two commercial off-the-shelf items, the TALON and the M-249. Actually, there is a third COTS item, which is the real meat of the SWORDS system. It is the TRAP T-250 D lightweight remote weapon platform designed and manufactured by Precision Remotes, Inc.

PRI supplies the weapon pan tilt, the shock-mounted overview and targeting cameras, the weapon adapter and the trigger actuator, all of which are standard T-250D components. Foster-Miller then adds other pieces to enable wireless operation as well as some additional cameras.

In addition to SWORDS the T-250D mounts on any military vehicle with a pintle receiver, operates from an M-3 or M-122 tripod for ground operations and can be mounted in an armored housing for fixed asset protection. A number of these facility security units are deployed in the United States.

The T-250D has set the standard amongst remote weapon platforms for lightweight, accuracy, mission flexibility and ease of operation. TRAP has seen combat duty in Iraq, is credited with solving the siege of the Church of the Nativity and has been selected by the Naval Sea Systems Command for explosive ordnance disposal use.

Mike Hanley

Vice President,Precision Remotes Inc.