Spain receives its first THeMIS vehicle
An example of the THeMIS UGV. (Photo: Milrem Robotics)
The Spanish Army has taken delivery of its first THeMIS UGV from Estonian manufacturer Milrem Robotics.
The UGV was supplied by Milrem’s Spanish distributor A. Paukner S.A. under contract from the Spanish defence procurement agency DGAM.
Spain acquired the THeMIS vehicle as part of its Escorpión programme, which the MoD launched in early 2021 to evaluate the capabilities of existing UGVs and explore how subsystems from Spanish industry could be integrated with them.
Such UGVs include the Rheinmetall Mission Master SP, two modules of which were demonstrated to Spanish defence officials in August 2021 with sensors and weapons systems from Escribano Mechanical & Engineering.
A Spanish MoD official associated with Escorpión said: ‘THeMIS provides a robust robotic platform ready to be equipped with several payloads in order to boost experimentation and other R&D activities with a reliable and well-known solution.’
Milrem noted in a 9 August announcement that 13 countries (including eight NATO member states) now operate THeMIS.
Spain is also part of the multinational European iMUGS consortium developing a standard military-grade UGV.
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