Mastiff and Panama Remote Controlled Vehicle MOD 45159062

The Panama Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is a piece of mine-clearing equipment used by the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

Design

The Panama ROV consists of a

Snatch Land Rover The Snatch Land Rover is a protected patrol vehicle based on the Land Rover Defender 110 chassis. Intended for general patrolling in low-threat areas, the vehicle was developed in 1992 for use in Northern Ireland. It provides a limited degree of ...

modified for remote control operation, with a large piece of mine-detection equipment mounted to the front. It was created by

Defence Equipment and Support Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics ...

, part of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, in conjunction with

PA Consulting Group PA Consulting Group (formerly Personnel Administration) is a professional services firm that works with public, private and third-sector organisations. It was founded in 1943 by Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour, who used a n ...

as a low-cost solution to mine detection in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

. Before the introduction of the Panama, an average of one person every week was killed, with five or six more being severely injured. The Panama vehicle is towed behind another vehicle – usually a Buffalo MRAP vehicle. It can be unhitched from the towing vehicle without the crew having to expose themselves, and remotely driven to search for explosive devices. A single system consists of two Panama vehicles and a control station. They usually work as part of a Talisman team, which consists of two Buffalo Rummage and four

Mastiff A mastiff is a large and powerful type of dog. Mastiffs are among the largest dogs, and typically have a short coat, a long low-set tail and large feet; the skull is large and bulky, the muzzle broad and short (brachycephalic) and the ears dro ...

'Protected Eyes' vehicles; two micro unmanned air vehicles (MUAV); two HMEEs; and two Talon UGVs. The vehicles are considerably cheaper than a bespoke solution, as they make use of the SN2A Snatch Land Rover, which was rendered obsolete due to poor armour protection. The military had approximately 200 of these vehicles awaiting disposal. The vehicle has been in use in Afghanistan since early 2011.

History

The project took 11 months to move from procurement decision to operational use, and cost £50m in total, £9m less than expected. The use of the Snatch Land Rovers awaiting disposal, rather than a new vehicle, saves an extra £8m over the length of the contract. The programme was managed by the DE&S itself – with assistance from PA Consulting – which is unusual for procurement in the United Kingdom. However, despite the unorthodox method, the Land Rover was accepted as a solution. Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Parker of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

said of the choice, "There is a whole generation of technicians who are trained in their maintenance. There is a supply chain for the parts, all the manuals are written and all those thousands of parts are already codified to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

standards. Using our scoring system, the Snatch came top." Parker also said that, as the operator uses a simple computer display which is familiar to computer game players, soldiers can learn to use the vehicle in just one hour. The project, and PA Consulting Group, won the Management Consultancies Association Award for the best overall project in 2012.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Military equipment of the United Kingdom Unmanned ground combat vehicles Bomb disposal robots Mine warfare countermeasures United Kingdom defence procurement