In october, representatives of Rheinmetall and the Croatian vehicle manufacturer DOK-ING signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture. The signing ceremony was attended by the Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić.
With the joint venture, the two companies are pursuing the goal of developing various unmanned vehicles based on the Komodo platform from DOK-ING. Rheinmetall is contributing expertise in areas such as direct and indirect fire, mine laying, reconnaissance sensors and logistics. An initial system demonstrator is to be presented to the public in 2025.
Rheinmetall and DOK-ING are planning to develop further unmanned platforms in the future. Specifically, a joint project is being planned for an unmanned armed escort system (so-called Wingman) for combat and infantry fighting vehicles for reconnaissance and mission support. For example, the Wingman could be deployed in a combat formation with established Rheinmetall platforms such as the KF51 Panther, the 3 Büffel armoured recovery vehicle and the 3 Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle.
The establishment of the joint venture is subject to regulatory approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities, including the European Commission and the respective national competition authorities.
‘With DOK-ING and Rheinmetall, two leading European providers in their field are coming together to realise ambitious projects.Together, we want to set new standards and open the door to production- and application-ready UGS. We are thus addressing the European market as well as other partner countries,’ said Dr Björn Bernhard, head of Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems Europe division.
DOK-ING is based in Zagreb, Croatia.The company specialises in the development of unmanned, remote-controlled robotic systems for use in extreme conditions.
