Rheinmetall Canada’s Mission Master Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (A-UGV) has once again proved its capabilities at a demonstration for six European allies. This event gathered delegations from Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland at the Försvarets materielverk (FMV) Trängslet base camp outside Älvdalen, Sweden, to attend a live-fire demonstration of laser-guided rockets.

The Rheinmetall Mission Master SP – Fire Support was equipped with a Rheinmetall Fieldranger Multi remotely controlled weapon station armed with two seven-tube 70 mm rocket launchers from Thales Belgium, an important partner of Rheinmetall. For the demonstration, the A-UGV fired Thales FZ275 70 mm Laser-guided Rockets (LGRs) at a 4x4 vehicle located 4 km away from the firing point. The FZ275 LGR is the lightest and longest range 70 mm/2.75-inch LGR in its class, delivering metric precision and accuracy, hence providing unfailing ground support to armed forces.

The demonstration marked the end of the successful qualification process for the Fieldranger Multi equipped with Thales 70 mm rocket launcher configuration. Previously limited to aircraft platforms, these types of area saturation and precise strike applications at up to 7 km with minimal collateral damage against fixed and mobile targets are now open to the Mission Master A-UGV. And this new configuration now stands ready to be integrated on other types of platforms and armoured vehicles.

This only represents one of many possible configurations for the Mission Master SP – Fire Support. Featuring a fully modular architecture, this A-UGV can also be equipped with other weapon systems: 12.7 mm calibre machine guns, Dillon Aero M134D gun, or 40 mm grenade launchers.

The demonstration at Trängslet was performed using a secure, customized remotely controlled tablet operating in a fully digitized scenario. Firing was controlled through the Rheinmetall Command and Control Software. Rheinmetall and Thales both stressed the criticality for a man-in-the-loop configuration, meaning that the operator has complete control of the weapon system from target acquisition to final fire authorization.

YouTube Video Link: https://youtu.be/10g3PtrhN1Y