Defence Procurement International: UGV, a force multiplier on the battlefield

Published on Defence Procurement International, Winter 2016/2017

Written by Giulia Tilenni

Read the PDF File (English)

"The French ECA Group has been involved in the design, production, delivery and support of many UGV programmes since the 1990's. According to Ricardo Caponi, Sales Manager, ECA Group, amongst the most important programs are the "MiniRogen" for the COBRA MK2 UGV for the French Army, The procurement of the COBRA MK2 UGV by Canada, and the procurement of the Cameleon UGV by French police. The Cameleon has also been used in exercises by the French Air Force's NEDEX group (Neutralization, Removal and Destruction of Explosives) and the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon. Field-proven reliability, adaptation to customers' need and intuitive remote control/autonomous capabilities are ECA's main strenghts."ECA's UGV are designed to accomplish three main missions: Reconnaissance and surveillance (MiniRogen Cobra MK2); CBRN missions; EOD/IEDD (this missions conists of disposal, neutralisation of explosive ordinance, but in particular the UGVs are the ideal systems for immediate assessment of bags or any other object suspected to be an IED).

Depending on its configuration, each UGV produced by ECA can perform any of the mentioned missions : Cobra MK2 I is for Inspection/reconnaissance, Cobra MK2 E is for EOD and Cobra MK2 C is for CBRN missions. ECA's UGVs can be classified into three "size" categories: the Cobra Mk2 (mini, 200 meters range), the Cameleon (light-weight) and the Iguana  (medium size).

All the systems are man portable, quickly deployable and can be operated from military vehicles or dismounted soldiers. Moreover, ECA's systems are collaborative, meaning that a command and control unit can simultaneously operate up to four UGVs. Depending on the size and the assigned task, each UGV can be equipped with a large range of payloads, including disruptors, cameras, sensors. Mission modules are plug and play, so the customer can figure the system immediately before each mission and according to its specific needs. "We can adapt any disruptor, any sensor, as well as the control console and software to any particular customer need" says Caponi.

Customisation is only one aspect of how ECA foresees its future. Evolution and the development of new programmes will also play a major role. "For the future, we foresee two main drivers of evolution of our Unmanned Ground Vehicles", says Caponi."Firstly, the upgrade of existing UGVs associated with the latest technolology improvments (for example, we are retrofitting old Cobra to the new Cobra Mk2), secondly, the launch of brand new products/concepts in order to respond more and more to different operational needs. furthermore, we are also working on a long term R&D programme intended to develop humanoid robots as support to ground armed forces"

Discover ECA Group UGV solutions