Textron to Buy Howe & Howe in Autonomous Vehicle Market Push; Lisa Atherton Quoted

Lisa Atherton

Textron (NYSE: TXT) is acquiring Waterboro, Maine-based robotic ground vehicle manufacturer Howe & Howe Technologies for an undisclosed sum in a move to expand autonomous technology offerings across land, sea and air domains.

The industrial conglomerate said Thursday Howe & Howe’s vehicles and applications will complement its portfolio of unmanned platforms, control systems and mission combat vehicles.

“This planned acquisition demonstrates our commitment to our U.S. military customers and an understanding of their critical work,” said Lisa Atherton, president and CEO at Textron’s systems segment.

Howe & Howe offers the Ripsaw Super Tank and RS2-H1 SMET vehicles to the government market, as well as produces Thermite firefighting robots and Bulldog medical transport and firefighting vehicles.

Michael Howe, president of Howe & Howe, said the company aims to “push the laws of physics in ground mobility and robotics” by combining with Textron.

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