Northrop Grumman Launches Updated CUTLASS Ground Vehicle

Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman.

By Danielle Lucey



Northrop Grumman Corp. announced that it has launched the next generation of its unmanned ground vehicle, CUTLASS, created for remote handling and threat surveillance. 



The company is debuting the updated vehicle at this week’s Counter Terror Expo in London. The vehicle’s modular design can host a series of payloads, sensors and tools. Northrop Grumman is pitching the system as a two-for-one, since it can carry many tools downrange at once, so the user would need one UGV instead of potentially two. 



"Our CUTLASS vehicle is setting new standards in the UGV market and significantly enhancing the ability of users to handle hazardous threats safely. It is more dexterous, cost effective and, as a package, four times faster than any other UGV," says Greg Roberts, managing director of defense and security for Northrop Grumman Information Systems Europe. "The vehicle is already in service across the U.K. and has proven itself to be robust and capable in the most demanding environments. We look forward to exploiting the potential opportunities for exporting this capability into international markets."



The robot comes with a manipulator arm that has a three-finger gripper with nine degrees of freedom. The robot moves at a speed of 12 kph, or 7.5 mph.



The company first demonstrated the original vehicle in 2007 to the U.K.’s undersecretary of state for defense.