The U.S. Army has placed orders with iRobot and Boeing for 94 small unmanned ground vehicles under a $14.6 million contract announced this week.

Under the deal the companies will provide the Army with new 310 models, plus spare parts.

The 35-pound unmanned robots, said Bob Dalee, robotics program manager for Boeing Network and Tectical Systems, are capable of providing the "dismounted explosive ordinance disposal technician with the ability to perform reconnaissance during extremely hazardous ... missions involving unexploded ordinance and improvised explosive devices," a company statement said.

The order is the Army's fifth related contract, amassing a total of 323 units.

Boeing and iRobot have been working together, developing unmanned vehicles since 2007. The particular order for the more advanced robotic vehicles includes smaller and lighter models of the iRobot PackBot.

A Boeing statement prides the vehicles as "designed to give warfighters real-time awareness of critical situations and carry out missions from safe standoff distances."

"Robots have played an important role on the battlefield for years now and their numbers in theater are growing," said Joe Dyer, president of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots division, according to a report by DefenseTalk.

"Warfighters can carry and quickly deploy the small unmanned ground vehicle at a moment's notice, which is crucial in challenging environments such as Afghanistan. These robots are saving lives every day."

The order follows a fresh tender by the U.S. Army for the development of new ground combat vehicles as part of efforts to counter crude bombs used by Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

The need for such equipment also comes at a time when U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have intensified combat operations against Taliban insurgents who have equally been increasing their attacks against foreign troops.

More than 100 soldiers died in June, the highest monthly death toll for the 9-year war. In one attack alone, last month, four Americans were killed by a roadside bomb.

Such bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, have become the main weapon used against international and Afghan forces fighting to end an insurgency by Taliban elements.

The small, unmanned vehicles can "increase the safety of U.S. and allied warfighters in uncertain situations," said William Boggs, director of Boeing Global Forces & Robotics Systems, said a Boeing statement.

As the prime contractor, Boeing will co-develop the vehicles in iRobot's headquarters in Bedford, Mass.

The number of improvised explosive devices in the country has risen relentlessly, up from about 50 a week during the summer of 2007. In the last week of June, military officials say they counted 300 crude bombs that either exploded or were spotted in their field of operation. In all, the crude bombs account for about two-thirds of NATO's troop fatalities.