TROIA, Portugal — Rheinmetall Canada said it has successfully tested an unmanned ground vehicle in a novel scenario, plunging the robot into the Atlantic Ocean to see it crawl out on a sandy beach here as part of a NATO military exercise.
The vehicle was the latest version of the company’s Mission Master series, shipped to Portugal to partake in NATO’s Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Unmanned Systems, or REPMUS, from Sept. 1-26 in local waters.
The drill, led by the Portuguese Navy, brought together 24 participating countries that tested 276 unmanned systems for maritime operations.
For the first time abroad, the Canadian-made UGV successfully navigated from high seas to shore, demonstrating its potential for amphibious operations.
“The Mission Master was embarked on a warship that navigated into challenging waters and was dropped into the sea, with a crane, and its mission was to effectively navigate back to the beach near the testing site,” Étienne Rancourt, director of international business development at Rheinmetall Canada, told Defense News here.
The bulky ground robot stood out at the Portuguese Navy Operational Experimentation Centre, located on the Tróia Peninsula, a coastal area south of Lisbon, as it was surrounded mainly by naval and aerial drones.
The amphibious variant displayed here, which Rancourt called the Mission Master 2.0, was equipped with an internally developed mast, a tethered drone from the French company Elistair, a radar from U.S. manufacturer Echodyne, and electro-sensors.
“The version you’re seeing here is with upgrades all based on feedback from current operators, including the U.S., Norway, the UK, etc. These are mainly all focused on increased robustness and stability of the vehicle,” Rancourt said.
Global militaries are increasingly looking to unmanned robots for supporting roles in amphibious operations. These systems can serve as advanced scouts, sent ahead of human troops to collect intelligence about the terrain or enemy positions, and are also able to provide logistic support during complex water-to-land transitions.
In April, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense approved the deployment of the Ukrainian-made UNEX amphibious UGV to the front lines.
Displayed alongside the Mission Master was the Hero-120 loitering munition, offered in partnership with American-Israeli manufacturer Uvision as part of Rheinmetall’s portfolio for European customers.
A representative from Uvision USA told Defense News that the system was used in an exercise scenario as a quick-reaction force.
“We were shortly notified of our mission, and within two minutes of receiving the coordinates of the target, we were set up on the beach to launch and strike it,” he said.
Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.