Finland seeks demining robots amid exploding focus on combat robotics
MILAN — The Finnish military has launched a tender to procure mixed-sized military robots that will help ground forces in disposing explosive threats, as more armed forces in Europe refine their combat robotics requirements.
The Nordic country is seeking two models of robots, a large and a smaller variant, that will equip the Finnish Defense Forces’ explosive ordnance and improvised explosive device teams.
“Robots will be used in all standard EOD/IEDD operations, mainly in Finnish terrain, but shall also be capable of operating in international crisis management missions around the world,” a notice published last month by the military’s Logistics Command said.
The initial planned purchase is for four platforms, including spare parts and training, but a follow-on order could entail a total of eight. The tender envisions vehicles that weigh less than 300 kilograms (662 lbs), move on tracks, can be operated wirelessly, and can be fitted with at least two disruptors, which are typically used for disabling explosive devices.
In addition, a human operator must be able to use the system’s remote control or interface to activate the disruptors. The estimated value of the purchases is 14,3 million euros (16,7 million USD).
Ukraine has been at the forefront of unmanned ground vehicle technologies over the last few years, contributing to fast-track interest in them. The country recently announced the creation of the world’s first UGV battalion.
The development of such platforms has previously been slower, as militaries were gradually fine-tuning their plans to field them as a complement – or outright replacement – of legacy systems.
In July 2023, only a few months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Estonian Defence Forces organized a demonstration for vendors to show off their vehicles’ abilities.
At the time, one of the event’s organizers told Defense News that for the systems to be deployed in operational scenarios like what was unfolding in Ukraine, they required much more robustness and testing.
Since then, UGV manufacturers have multiplied contracts both within and outside of Europe. The Estonian-based producer Milrem Robotics, which was acquired by the Emirati conglomerate Edge Group, has over a dozen of its THeMIS UGVs in various configurations to Ukraine and received orders from the Japanese and Emirati militaries last year.
In June, the Dutch Ministry of Defense signed a contract on behalf of the Ukraine Task Force with Rheinmetall Defense Nederland to supply 20 UGVs to the Ukrainian forces. France is currently testing the Aurochs 4×4 UGV as it plans to field combat-ready robotic capabilities by 2040. Similarly, last month, Italy hosted the first EU-wide OPEX operational experimentation, in partnership with the European Defense Agency, where six European defense companies demonstrated the capabilities of drones and robotic ground systems.
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