Estonia, Good for Business, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Technology

The first project, in which QinetiQ and Milrem are to participate together, is the "last mile" competition organized by Defense Scienve and Technology Laboratory of the British Ministry of Defense, in which different autonomous unmanned vehicles will be assessed, Milrem said.

The offer accepted to the first stage of the institution's program is based on the unmanned terrestrial vehicle THeMIS developed by Milrem and the autonomous technology to be developed by QinetiQ. The joint product is to be named Titan.

"Milrem is already cooperating closely with the U.S. branch of QinetiQ and I am very glad that the cooperation also expanded to the United Kingdom," Kuldar Vaarsi, head of Milrem, said.

"The agreement between Estonia's Milrem and QinetiQ, one of the largest British defense industry company, expressively shows that the Estonian defense industry as reached a high technological and innovative level in order to be competitive on the international market," commander of the Estonian Defense Forces Gen. Riho Terras said. "Unmanned terrestrial vehicles are the necessary next step, which will significantly cut back on the risks for soldiers in hotbeds of war."

"QinetiQ's experience in creating autonomous systems and Milrem's very powerful platform will give the defense forces the opportunity to get acquainted with the benefits of the unmanned vehicles," Bill Biggs, head of QinetiQ's autonomy department.