MIRA Announces Continuation of British Army Partnership at Eurosatory

The MIRA Autonomous Control Equipment (MACE) route proving and clearing system known as project ‘Panama’ is to be retained by the British Army until 2030, MIRA is set to announce at Eurosatory in Paris next week (June 16 – 20 2014).

As part of the agreement, MIRA – the internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy with specialist Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and defence expertise – will continue on-going development of its MACE technology platform, which allows intelligent UGV’s to be operated in both tele-op and autonomous modes up to 20km away in the detection of IEDs.

MACE technology is currently being used by the British Army in the advanced UGV, Panama, which carries on board an integration of IED sensors and detection systems, and was first deployed in theatre in 2011. The system uses the Snatch Land Rover as its donor platform.

Ahead of Eurosatory, MIRA’s senior global sales manager for defence systems, Rob Mohacsi, said

“For almost a decade, MIRA has been at the forefront of developing unmanned vehicle systems. By creating the unique MACE technology platform, MIRA has been able to engineer a range of bespoke vehicle platforms that are now proven in theatre. The fact that the British Army has retained MIRA’s capabilities in UGV development is fantastic, and shows that the MACE technology has been successfully combat proven on the front line.”

Col Adrian Parker, Requirements Manager for the Manoeuvre Support Team in MoD said:

“The MIRA MACE system has been selected as the preferred technology to deliver Unmanned Ground Vehicle solutions for the British Army. It is the current solution for our Route Proving and Clearance IED detection capability, which continues to demonstrate its operational effectiveness in Afghanistan.”

MIRA’s UGV and defence engineering capabilities cover whole vehicle design, integration, test and validation and certification. The ability to act as a validation partner or as a prime contractor means that MIRA is able to respond to urgent operational requirements of varying size and complexity.

This flexibility, a customer-focused approach and unrivalled test facilities have proven invaluable for the UK MOD.

Other customers benefitting from MIRA’s deep content expertise and innovative approach include Lockheed Martin, whom MIRA is supporting on the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme; the £1 billion key strategic programme to upgrade the British Army’s major Infantry Fighting Vehicle, Warrior.

Warrior has been in service with the British Army for 20 years, and the programme will extend the vehicles life into the 2040s. MIRA has worked to support Lockheed Martin – a team of who are based at MIRA Technology Park – with its defence vehicle engineering

expertise including mechanical design, structural analysis, Computational Fluid Dynamics, electrical, safety and EMC analysis.