WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The Pentagon says a new high-tech robotic vehicle that destroys roadside bombs needs further testing before it can be sent into battle.
The remote-controlled vehicle, called the Joint IED Neutralizer, blows up roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, with a directed electrical charge.
Critics say Pentagon bureaucracy is slowing deployment of the vehicle and costing lives. More than 50 percent of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq have been caused by roadside bombs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A prototype was tested extensively in mid-September in the Arizona desert, destroying most of the roadside bombs put in its way. But the Pentagon's IED task force said that the device required further testing, and that a decision to delay deployment had been made jointly by Pentagon officials and commanders in Iraq, the newspaper said.
"The Army isn't saying no to this. They are just saying yes very, very slowly, and it's a tragedy," said a former senior Pentagon official who was involved in the development of the vehicle.
