Article Posted on : - Apr 12, 2010

The Wheelbarrow Mk9 unmanned ground vehicle for the remote handling and surveillance of hazardous threats. Photo: Northrop Grumman

LONDON (BNS): Northrop Grumman has launched an enhanced version of Wheelbarrow unmanned ground vehicle for the remote handling and surveillance of hazardous threats.

The upgraded version has advances in technology and performance with a range of new features and improved capabilities for both civil security and defence applications.

"This latest design of our well proven Wheelbarrow vehicle combines greater speed, mobility, exceptional payload and reach capabilities with the latest control, communications and camera specifications to offer unsurpassed performance, " Kevin Rooney, MD of Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector in Europe said in an official news release.

Wheelbarrow Mk9 includes digital communications for improved quality and greater security with enhanced user-friendly command console.

The vehicle also has a dedicated separate data channel for additional sensor integration. Its performance characteristics rank it among the most capable vehicles available in its class. It can climb a 45-degree stairway and has a modular telescopic arm with 7-degrees of freedom and a maximum reach of more than 6m. The vehicle has a maximum speed of 5km/hour and a lift capacity of 150kg, the release said.

Wheelbarrow was first used by British Army bomb disposal teams in the 1970s and since then it has gone through a number of design upgrades to extend capabilities and meet changing needs.