Eurosatory 2018: FN Herstal and Milrem jointly demonstrate new armed UGV.

Following a successful partnership in displaying the deFNder® Medium Remote Weapon Station (RWS) fitted onto the THeMIS Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) at the DSEI exhibition in London last year, FN Herstal and Milrem Robotics is going a step further at EUROSATORY 2018.

FN Herstal and Milrem jointly showcase a new armed UGV

Both companies demonstrate the integrated concept of the FN Herstal deFNder® Medium RWS with Milrem Robotics THeMIS UGV during the live demonstrations. The deFNder® and THeMIS are remotely operated, and the later equipped with an autonomy kit that allows the vehicle to drive with minimal operator assistance, i.e. between waypoints. 

A similar combined system was already deployed successfully at the largest Estonian military exercise, Spring Storm 2017, and during a live firing demonstration in front of international military delegations last December. The concept allows deploying an armed ground vehicle whilst ensuring operators are kept at a safe distance from combat and continue to make all the critical decisions. Demonstrations are taking place twice a day (morning and afternoon) during the exhibition.

The demonstrated deFNder® Medium features a 7.62x51mm FN MAG® general purpose machine gun. The FN Herstal deFNder® Medium also accepts the .50 cal FN® M2HB-QCB or FN® M3R machine gun without modification. The FN® M3R is a world exclusivity by FN Herstal and is capable of firing 1,100 RPM.

The deFNder® Medium on the THeMIS is also be on display on FN Herstal booth at the upcoming EUROSATORY, featuring here the .50 cal FN® M3R machine gun. In addition to the deFNder® Medium, the deFNder® Family of remote Weapon stations also includes the deFNder® Light, accepting up to the 7.62x51mm FN MAG® machine gun, for land applications and the Sea deFNder® for naval applications. All deFNder® RWS are designed around a modular, upgradable and adaptive architecture and can be integrated onto mobile or static platforms to provide critical infrastructure protection or static perimeter defense to name just a few.