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August 23, 2018 | International, Land

Army EOD soldiers will soon get a whole new kit — and new robots

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BETHESDA, Md. — The explosive ordnance disposal community has played a key role in operations in recent wars, and that role will only grow as the Pentagon shifts its focus to major combat operations against near-peer threats.

With that growing role, the equipment those EOD technicians carry with them will change, too.

At the National Defense Industrial Association's annual Global EOD Symposium recently, multiple speakers focused on how the community has spent the past two decades primarily working the improvised explosive device threat. But they cautioned that old and new threats will emerge in major combat.

Repeated throughout their comments was the admonition that the community must be “full EOD, not just IED.”

To meet that mission, the Army is turning to technology to help fill the gaps.

Pat McGrath, chief of the materiel development branch for Army Training and Doctrine Command's EOD concerns, laid out some of the new items in the works.

Army EOD teams will soon have three aerial drones, soldier-borne sensors, tiny “nano” helicopter drones and tethered Unmanned Aerial Sensors at their disposal.

The enhanced render safe kit will also include binocular night vision devices, lightweight dismounted X-ray machines, lightweight electronic countermeasures, and lightweight mobile detectors for radiation and chemicals.

The Army needs 176 kits and expects to have initial operational capability by 2021, McGrath said.

Full article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/08/22/army-eod-soldiers-will-soon-get-a-whole-new-kit-and-new-robots

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