06/29/09 — The company formerly known as Foster-Miller, Inc. has announced a $56.4 million contract to supply Talon remote-operated vehicles to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, which will use them for bomb disposal. The contract is for Talon Gen IV robots, parts, spare kits and related parts and service on a non-time-limited contracted. The announcement from Technology Solutions Group (TSG), which was known as Foster-Miller, Inc. until it was acquired by U.K.-based QinetiQ in 2004, said the company expects to finish the contract in early 2010. The U.S. Army, Navy and other services have been testing and deploying Talons since they were…

06/08/09 — Drones, known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have proven to be of great value in military operations, but so far, their advantages have not been fully exploited for civilian uses. In civil life, drones are mainly used in the agriculture sector – for assessing how well crops are growing in a particular part of a field – or for meteorological measurements. The main barrier to the wider use of drones is their large size and lack of maneuverability around obstacles. Most military drones are fixed-wing UAVs designed to operate at high altitudes and do not need a lot of manoeuvrability.…