Rheinmetall and DOK-ING to work together on armed support UGV development
The agreement will see the further development of DOK-ING’s Komodo platform. (Image: Rheinmetall)
DOK-ING has a substantial heritage of UGV development, mostly in mine clearance, and the agreement with Rheinmetall will take the companies in a new direction.
Germany’s Rheinmetall and Croatia’s DOK-ING will develop a UGV for mine scattering, armed support and counter-mobility operations with a system expected to be presented in 2025.
The agreement will provide for joint development and subsequent marketing of the new DOK-ING Komodo platform.
Under the agreement Rheinmetall AG will provide capability modules and upgrade kits for direct and indirect fire, mine-laying, reconnaissance sensors and logistics, as well as international market access and industrial capacities.
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The companies said that as part of the MoU numerous combat and combat support solutions would be developed, including an armed support UGV which would operate alongside battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles for reconnaissance and fire support. These could be used in combination with Rheinmetall products, such as the KF51 Panther IFV, the Büffel-3 armoured recovery vehicle and the Kodiak-3 armoured engineer vehicle.
The tracked vehicle will be able to lay mines and map the mined areas while also being capable of travelling at speeds up to 60kmh to support other vehicles.
DOK-ING has a substantial line of UGVs with particular expertise in mine clearance, notably the 19,000kg MV-10 and 6,000kg MV-4 UGVs.
In January it was announced that in late 2023 DOK-ING had delivered its 14th MV-4 to Ukraine marking the 300th of the type to have been delivered worldwide.
At the time of the announcement the company said 304 of the type was in service with 27 countries for use by 17 different militaries. DOK-ING UGVs have been delivered to the US, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Azerbaijan.
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