Global Vision

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G LO baL P E RSP Ec T IvE S | TECHNOLOGY

GLO baL P ERSP Ec T I v E S | T ECH NO LO GY

Plowshares into Swords!

john Deeres Gator finds its way from your Land to Land warfare
BY JEFFR EY BRA DFO RD

into remote locations to conduct operations. In such operations the versatility, weight and volume of vehicles become a critical factor in mission planning. In addition, from an equipment acquisition standpoint the vehicles have a relatively low unit cost and were available off-the-shelf with little modification necessary to employ them in a military environment. To date the John Deere Gator, which has the military designation of M Gator A1 has been employed by the American and Canadian armed forces for supply and casualty evacuation. The vehicle has been deployed to Bosnia in the former Yugoslavia and more recently in Iraq and Afganistan. More recently John Deere has been working on the R Gator uGV a robotic controlled Gator which can be programmed to follow troops and other vehicles to a set destination. DARPA (the uS Defence research and development agency) announced its robotics challenge aiming to stimulate development of practical solutions to the requirements for unmanned vehicles to support the military, paramilitary and emergency services. The John Deere Gator and Polaris Ranger were both named as examples of vehicles to be used by contestants in designing their robotic versions both competing for a two million dollar cash prize.

NOT X-BOX - CONTROLLING THE ROBOTIC GATOR-R

See our next issue for a review of the civilian version of the John Deere Gator. For more details of the John Deere gator see: www.deere.com. For further details of the DARPA robotics challenge see: www.darpa.mil

john Deere, one of americas longest manufacturers of agricultural equipment such as tractors and combine harvesters created the Gator in the early 1990s to service the needs of construction sites and land owners for a simple load carrying vehicle to maintain and operate.

JOHN DEERE GATOR: AVAILABLE IN BACKYARD OR BATTLEFIELD CONFIGuRATIONS

he Gator is a petrol, diesel or electric powered four or six wheeled small vehicle capable of moving on a variety of types of terrain requiring one operator and either cargo or additional people carrying capacity, or a combination of both. The civilian version of this workhorse is often using on ranches, large land parcels, golf courses, sporting events or even for off-road racing in its own right. Prices range from $8,199 for the base 550 XuV model to $11,399 for the more powerful base 825i XuV model. The military version of the vehicle, the M Gator A1 starts in price from some $19,000, though is only available to government customers.

The Gator can be supplied with a range of accessories and is highly adaptable hence its appreciation by the military. Civilian accessories include blades, winches, sprayers and for recreation enhanced shock absorption to an on-board stereo. The Gator has grown over the past two decades and has morphed as they have grown in popularity, both as work and as recreational vehicles. The Gator XuV being the latest development to challenge the emergence of rival products such as the Polaris Ranger. The military interest in the Gator has grown as a consequence of the increased use of helicopter transport of personnel and equipment
DARPA ARTISTS CONCEPT FOR THEIR LATEST $2 MILLION ROBOTICS CHALLENGE

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