A group of Fort Hood-based soldiers are the latest subjects of the Army’s lone independent testing agency: Part lab rats, part product reviewers, all partners in Operational Test Command’s mission to get the service’s future gear as close to perfect as possible.

Some will fill out more than 1,000 comment cards as they put the Medium Mine Protected Vehicle Type II through their paces, hunting simulated explosives over miles of the Texas post, home of both OTC and this test’s participating unit, 510th Clearance Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade.

Other systems undergoing tests include an attached interrogation arm for safely engaging roadside threats, a detection system for chemical agents and the Robotic Deployment System, which would allow MMPV crews to launch a PackBot or similar small device.

For more on what OTC does and how soldiers sent there help do it: Army Times

Image courtesy of expo21xx.com