FLIR Systems has been selected by the U.S. Army to produce the Common Robotic System – Heavy (CRS-H).

CRS-H is designed to bolster the protection of EOD Soldiers by increasing standoff to interrogate hazardous devices in various military operations, as well as in homeland defense applications.

The value of the contract is $109 million. The capability is expected to be delivered beginning in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2020.

“The Army is modernizing robotic and autonomous capabilities with a family of enduring systems that leverage the best of available commercial technology critical to giving Soldiers overmatch in future contingencies,” says Timothy G. Goddette, the Army's program executive officer for Combat Support & Combat Service Support.

“The current approach allows the Army to focus resources on fast-changing payload technology, rather than having to replace entire systems -- meaning Soldiers can access new technology faster and can buy more of what the Army really requires.”

Expected to be equipped with native payloads such as cameras (including pan, tilt, zoom), secure radios and a robust manipulator arm, CRS-H will have special features that provide enhanced capability to detect, identify, access, render safe, exploit, and achieve final disposition of heavy explosive ordnance, including Improvised Explosive Devices, Vehicle Borne IEDs, and Weapons of Mass Destruction at safe standoff.

Through the CRS-H program, the Army was able to utilize a “phased, quicker” acquisition plan to make informed program decisions based on direct Soldier feedback on commercially available technology. This allowed equipment to be fielded faster than typical processes allow.

The system was developed under Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) during Phase I and Phase II efforts. According to the Army, an OTA is an authority of the Department of Defense to conduct certain prototype, research, testing and production projects. They were created to give DoD the necessary flexibility to adopt and incorporate business practices that reflect commercial industry standards and best practices into its award instruments.

“Using an innovative acquisition strategy that involved close synchronized teaming with the Army EOD Capability Developer and Army G8, employment of the Army's Robotic Enhancement Program and the OTAs, the CRS-H team awarded this contract within a year and a half of Capability Production Document approval,” explains Lou Anulare, the Army's product manager for Unmanned Ground Vehicles.

“Using traditional acquisition processes, it could have taken as much as three and a half years to get to this point in a program.”

The next steps in the CRS-H program call for using Phase II testing results to obtain a Safety Confirmation and Operational Test Agency Evaluation Report, which will allow for immediate fielding to EOD Teams under a Conditional Materiel Release with Commercial Off The Shelf technical manuals in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2020.

To achieve Full Materiel Release in Fiscal Year 2021, the Army will then complete the necessary additional logistics requirements, including maintainer manuals and Field Level Maintainer New Equipment Training.

Below: ​CRS-H's special features will provide enhanced capability to detect, identify, access, render safe, exploit, and achieve final disposition of heavy explosive ordnance, including Improvised Explosive Devices, Vehicle Borne IEDs, and Weapons of Mass Destruction at safe standoff. (Photo Credit: courtesy of FLIR Systems)