Nichols Martin
Lisa Atherton, president and CEO of Textron Systems, spoke to reporters Thursday about four U.S. Army programs the company will be pursuing this year, Defense News reported Friday.
Textron looks to leverage its recent acquisition of Howe & Howe Technologies to help the military service build a robotic equipment carrier through the Squad Mobility Equipment Transport competition and an unmanned tank to function as a “wingman” in the battlefield.
Atherton said she believes Howe & Howe’s RS2-H1 and Ripsaw platforms are designed to address the requirements.
The company has also received orders from the Army to demonstrate Aerosonde HQ, a small unmanned aircraft system being pitched as a potential replacement for the service branch’s RQ-7 Shadow drones.
Textron is also among the five manufacturers selected to develop and deliver Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle prototypes to the service branch later this year. NGSAR is meant to replace the Army’s M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.
