SWORDS

armed TALON

An armed version of the TALON built for the US Army. Three were sent to Iraq in 2007, but the Army never authorised their use in combat.

Price: $230,000Cheaper than 0%
Height: —Not published
Weight: —Not published
Payload: —Not published
Speed: —Not published
Battery: —Not published

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Why it matters

The first armed ground robots deployed to a war zone (Iraq, 2007).

Real-world use

Three units sent to Iraq in 2007; not authorised to fire in combat.

Timeline

First shown: 2004-12-03
Released: 2007-08

SWORDS was demonstrated at the 2004 Army Science Conference, as reported on December 3

Maker

Foster-Miller (QinetiQ North America)Company · Massachusetts, USA

How it stacks up

Against other military & security that publish the figure. Pick a measure.

SWORDS (armed TALON) costs less than 0% of the 4 other military & security that publish a price. Bars show the 4 closest in date.

Price $230,000 $1,450$230,000 #5 of 5 · cheaper than 0%

Not published by the maker: height, weight, speed, payload, joints, battery.

Public attention

A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current machines.

No Wikipedia article of its own yet
No recent press stories listed yet

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement: Tracks
How it runs: Remote-controlled. A soldier remotely controlled the rifle-equipped SWORDS robot through a terminal.
Actuators & motors: Standard TALON tracked chassis.
Hands: Weapon mount instead of an arm; public sources list rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers among options.
Sensors & vision: TALON camera suite.
AI & software: Not autonomous; a soldier drove and aimed it from a small control console.

Lineage

Every Foster-Miller (QinetiQ North America) machine in order.

Made, sold and where

Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.

Price: $230,000About $230,000 per system to produce in 2004; the project’s lead integrator estimated production could reduce this to $150,000–180,000 (Army News Service, 2004).
How to get one: No official buying page found
Built: Small numbers; three units deployed to Iraq in 2007
Sold or delivered: Unit price reported as $230,000; the Army stopped funding after the first three deployed units
Where it is sold or used: United States (Foster-Miller / QinetiQ North America)
Customers and pilots: US Army; one is in the Smithsonian collection (2013) and one at the National Infantry Museum

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

Foster-Miller (QinetiQ North America) TALON began supporting military operations in Bosnia nationaldefensemagazine.org SWORDS (armed TALON): how it is operated

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