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Rheinmetall Supplies Austrian Armed Forces with Counter-sUAS System for Evaluation

Sunday, May 29th, 2022

The Austrian armed forces have selected Rheinmetall’s C-sUAS system for a six-month period of testing and evaluation. In May 2022 Rheinmetall Air Defence AG shipped the latest version of its rapidly deployable counter-small unmanned aerial system (C-sUAS) to the Austrian military. The system comprises two shelter units, enabling rapid deployment on standard trailers and trucks. The sensor unit elevates automatically and can be equipped with various detection technologies, including X-band and S-band radar, passive emitter locator, ADS-B receiver and others if required. An integrated, stabilized 360° electro-optical PTZ sensor provides state-of-the-art verification and tracking capabilities.

Based on the tried-and-tested Oerlikon Skymaster command and control system, the separate C2 shelter is a fully fledged operator workstation. Skymaster delivers an outstanding level of sensor data fusion and multiple operational functions, including scalability to integrated target cueing devices and effectors for different countermeasures as well as links to higher echelons.

The Austrian armed forces will put the Rheinmetall C-sUAS system through its paces at several locations in Austria, gaining valuable expertise and experience by simulating air base protection, integration into other military units and providing C-sUAS protection in urban areas – a wise approach give the proliferation of emerging aerial threats. A major highlight will be a public demonstration of the C-sUAS at the renowned AIRPOWER 2022 air show at Hinterstoisser Air Base, home of the Eurofighter, near Zeltweg, Austria.

Rheinmetall Air Defence will lend its support throughout the next six months to ensure that Austria gets the maximum benefit out of the project.

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Joint Venture Between High-Tech Rheinmetall AG and DEMALOG, Germany’s Biggest Biometrics Company

Friday, May 27th, 2022

The technology enterprise Rheinmetall AG and DERMALOG Identification Systems GmbH, Germany’s largest biometrics firm, have contractually agreed to set up a joint venture. The new company, Rheinmetall Dermalog SensorTec GmbH, should begin operating in early summer 2022. Rheinmetall will hold a 65% stake in the partnership, with DERMALOG accounting for the remaining 35% share. Creation of the company still requires approval by the merger control authorities.

The strategic objective is to integrate biometric technology, artificial intelligence software, and digitization solutions in three different areas: driver monitoring, security, and industry. For Rheinmetall, the joint venture marks an important step in the transformation to digitization technology and expanding into driver monitoring solutions.

Furthermore, the new joint venture enhances the Düsseldorf-based technology group’s future-oriented diversification into biometrics applications geared to the security sector and industry. The move also adds to its existing digitization and software expertise. Importantly, the partnership reinforces Rheinmetall’s capabilities in five strategic technology clusters: automation, sensors, digitization, alternative mobility, and artificial intelligence.

“Setting up this joint venture is an important step in our transformation strategy, one which will enable us to offer cutting-edge monitoring, authentication, and security technology to our customers in the automotive sector and other industries”, states René Gansauge, CEO of Rheinmetall’s Sensors and Actuators division.

Rheinmetall Dermalog SensorTec GmbH will fuse Rheinmetall’s proprietary radar technology, which will be used for interior monitoring, with DERMALOG’s software, camera, and fingerprint technologies. In addition, an industrial application is already planned for the company access system at a Group-owned plant.

The majority-owned joint venture’s activities will be domiciled in Rheinmetall’s Sensors and Actuators division, which is spearheading the Group’s electrification strategy and applying new developments to the “Beyond Automotive” realm and industry in general.

DERMALOG Identification Systems GmbH
Headquartered in Hamburg, Rheinmetall’s new cooperation partner has been actively pioneering biometric products and solutions for 25 years. During this period, the company has evolved into Germany’s largest maker of biometric systems and devices and is an innovation leader in the world of biometrics. Best-in-class technologies characterized by high speed, precision and reliability are a hallmark of DERMALOG. In 2021 the company took the coveted German Innovation Award, just the latest is a serious of national and international prizes in various categories.

“The joint venture with Rheinmetall AG transfers biometrics into the field of automotive applications. Driver monitoring in particular will help to avoid accidents caused by distraction,” says Günther Mull, founder and managing director of DERMALOG Identification Systems GmbH in Hamburg about the joint venture with the technology group Rheinmetall.

Ever since the company’s foundation, it has been winning prestigious orders around the globe and carrying out major international projects. To date, the company has won 65 awards for its outstanding achievements in the field of biometrics, including the German Innovation Award Gold 2021 for its biometric cameras and the LivDet 2021 for its liveness recognition technology for differentiating between live and false fingers placed on a scanner for identification. Furthermore, following long years of successful cooperation, the company has succeeded in gaining a strong, experienced partner in Germany’s Bundesdruckerei, or Federal Printing Office, with a participation of 22.43%.

The company’s portfolio includes automated biometric identification systems and automated fingerprint identification systems; the latest fingerprint scanners; biometric border control systems; IDs and passports; and voting systems. Its customer base is extensive, encompassing law enforcement authorities, government residency registration offices and election authorities, vehicle registration offices, health and security companies, access control and data security firms, authorization and authentication services, mobile security organizations, government agencies, as well as public and private companies and banks around the globe. Among other things, DERMALOG offers solutions such as “FingerLogin”, “FingerPayment” and “FingerBanking”. The company is active in over 100 countries, serving clients not only in Germany and Europe, but also in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. For more information on the company, please go to: www.dermalog.com.

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Military Bridging News from Eurostatory

Friday, May 27th, 2022

For the first time in WFEL’s many appearances at the Eurosatory exhibition in Paris, the Military Bridging Systems supplier will be exhibiting on the KNDS (KMW Nexter Defence Systems) booth, alongside parent company KMW.

The world-leading provider of rapidly deployed modular military bridging systems will showcase its range of products, including the DSB Dry Support Bridge and also its newest collaboration with KMW, the Boxer Bridge-Layer system.

WFEL’s Dry Support Bridge is the world’s most technically advanced, rapidly deployable military bridge of its type and a 46m bridge can be constructed by a crew of 8 in under 90 minutes. The user base for the Dry Support Bridge is constantly growing worldwide and the latest country to join the user base is the Philippines, which is acquiring a number of DSB systems under the Horizon II modernisation programme.

Strategic Importance

WFEL’s rapidly-deployable bridging systems – including the MGB Medium Girder Bridge as well as the DSB – provide temporary infrastructure and have the potential to be used both in combat situations and in the event of natural disasters, greatly enhancing an Army’s capability to quickly manoeuvre across physical terrain as complex as rivers, ravines and man-made gaps.

The current growing ‘state of readiness for battle’ for many militaries around the world, combined with the greater involvement of the military in support of natural disasters which have occurred in recent times, illustrates the strategic importance of the dual-role capabilities of WFEL’s bridging systems.

Both DSB and MGB Bridging Systems were deployed in 2021 during rescue and relief operations, following severe flooding in Europe, namely in Germany and Turkey.

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Emerald Warrior 22.1 Concludes for AFSOC, Czech Special Forces

Tuesday, May 24th, 2022

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. —

Air Force Special Operations Command wrapped up its 15th Emerald Warrior exercise that provided realistic and relevant training to prepare special operations forces, conventional forces and international partners for conflict in an evolving, strategic environment.

The EW 22.1 planning team applied lessons learned from real-world operations to train and ready forces to the joint force, while staying focused on security priorities laid out within the 2022 National Defense Strategy; specifically, pacing strategic competitors. Trained, credible forces and strong international partnerships are pivotal to this effort.

“In this year’s iteration, we improved our approach to command and control through the employment of the Special Operations Task Group and Special Operations Task Unit,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Kevin Koenig, exercise director of Emerald Warrior. “This dispersion of leadership allowed for real-time, on-the-ground decision making and allowed commanders to perform operations quickly and more efficiently. We exercised our agile combat employment capabilities and focused additional training on non-kinetic skillsets to include public affairs and information operations. With our partner nations and sister services, our goal is to continue to deter adversaries, now and in the future, in all domains.”

The objective for this year’s EW was to gain and maintain an advantage on the battlefield and in the information environment, and grow kinetic and non-kinetic effects above and below the threshold of armed conflict from strategic competitors.

This annual exercise is an opportunity to further test and improve future approaches to AFSOC units like the mission sustainment teams. These MSTs established forward-operating bases by providing initial site security, receiving cargo and personnel, and setting up shelter.

“It was very impressive how the 1st SOW and 27th SOW [from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico] capabilities came together in order to forward stage our contingency locations during this exercise,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Travis Deutman, commander of the Emerald Warrior SOTG. “As these capabilities continue to progress, it’ll definitely be something that’ll be useful within AFSOC.”

In line with AFSOC’s Strategic Guidance, the exercise fuels on-going innovation and experimentation efforts within the command.

“The most important idea to understand about Emerald Warrior is that as AFSOC implements force generation, we’re building new concepts; the two biggest concepts being the SOTG command team and our MSTs,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Michael Haack, deputy director of operations for AFSOC. “These concepts combine to enable the force to do agile combat employment in a contested environment. We increased our agility; we pushed our decision making forward to the lowest level. These teams are trained and enabled, and ready to fight the fight in the contested and uncontested environment.”

In addition to introducing new command and control structure, the exercise continued as a forum of collaboration between the U.S. and its international partners and allies. This year, AFSOC hosted partners from the Czech Republic.

“We look forward to working with our partner nations and coalition forces from across SOF,” said Haack. “Emerald Warrior allows us to problem solve in an exercise environment, establish communication and build enduring relationships. Those relationships with our Czech partners and fellow SOF coalition forces are critical so we’re not meeting them for the first time down range.”

By 2nd Lt Cassandra Saphore, Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs

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Lindnerhof-Taktik Launches LT562 Curv Belt; Light Weight Permits Attaching Gear that Otherwise Would Need to Be Left Off

Monday, May 23rd, 2022

LENGGRIES, GERMANY (20 May 2022)—A highly versatile, exceptionally comfortable war belt made from a unique combination of materials that give it remarkable strength and lightness is now available for purchase, tactical gear manufacturer Lindnerhof-Taktik GmbH today announced.

The Lindnerhof-Taktik LT562 Curv® Belt weighs so little that wearers can attach tactical gear they once would have chosen—or more likely been forced—to leave off, the company said.

“If you as an operator put on a belt that weighs what war belts typically weigh, you’re not going to want to make it heavier still by attaching a lot of gear,” said Lindnerhof-Taktik CEO Jakob Kolbeck. “To keep that typical belt from becoming excessively weighty and uncomfortable, you’ll decide to not take with you some of the gear you’d like to have along for the mission and some of the gear you really do need to have along.

“Our new Curv® Belt range solves this problem. It’s ultralight, so you can attach more gear without becoming weighed down to the extent that your performance suffers.

“But even though it’s super light, our Curv® Belt is also very durable. It fully meets tactical-use requirements for high impact-strength and—even when subjected to very cold temperatures— resistance to fracturing.”

Kolbeck said all of this is possible thanks to the Curv® Belt’s unique combination of materials. Utilized in that pairing are a polypropylene base topped with a 500-denier layer of specially coated CORDURA® fabric to produce a flexible yet sufficiently stiff construct that needs no additional reinforcing.

“We call it Curv® material,” Kolbeck said. “The inspiration for it came from the automotive industry and their classically high-performance textiles used for making seat belts and other motor-vehicle components.”

Kolbeck said that Lindnerhof-Taktik also drew on customer feedback to guide the outside-the- textile-material-box thinking employed by its design-and-engineering team.

“We always listen very carefully to our customers in order to identify needs common to all— we’ve found that to be an approach which can lead to the development of great new products, such as the Curv® Belt,” he explained.

According to Kolbeck, the LT562 Curv® Belt is laser-cut, which permits attachment of pouches and gear directly to its supplied MOLLE slots. As well, the belt is anatomically adjusted to fit better and be more comfortable.

“A war belt that doesn’t fit properly will interfere with the wearer’s performance,” he contended. “Nor is it advantageous if the wearer can’t get the belt off fast. Those are issues our new Curv® Belt range successfully addresses.”

Kolbeck indicated that the Curv® Belt can be easily adapted to other belts made by Lindnerhof- Taktik, such as the LT465 belt.

“We’ve incorporated along the inner side of the Curv® Belt a band of Velcro®-fastened hooks for affixing it over another belt,” he said.

The Curv® Belt is available in an assortment of colours: Stone Gray, Black, German 5fb Flecktarn camouflage, Coyote, and MultiCam®. As for sizes, it’s offered in small, medium, large, and extra-large.

“Our goal in creating the Curv® Belt was to maintain the key features of a classic war belt but, by the same token, go way beyond the limits of what once was possible for war belts made from conventional materials,” Kolbeck said. “I feel very confident that we have fully achieved that goal.”

For more information about the Curv® Belt range and other Lindnerhof-Taktik products, please visit the company’s website at www.hqg.de

Posted in Advertiser, International, Load Carrying, Press Release | 3 Comments »

Major Orders from NATO Customer – Rheinmetall to Supply Force Protection Equipment Worth Around a Quarter of a Billon Euros

Sunday, May 22nd, 2022

Rheinmetall has received several major orders from a NATO customer to supply components for force protection equipment. The orders are worth a total of nearly €250 million gross. Delivery of the components is expected to start in 2023 and be complete by 2025.

“The armed forces of our country and those of our partner nations rely on our products to protect those who defend our right to live in peace, freedom, and security,” said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall. “We have made it our mission to provide our men and women in uniform with the best possible equipment, giving them a vital edge when deployed in harm’s way and helping to ensure that they get home safely. Aware of what is at stake, our staff give their best every day.”

Rheinmetall’s comprehensive expertise in force protection technologies ranges from individual passive ballistic solutions such as hard ballistic inserts for protective vests to state-of-the-art stand-off active protection systems for armoured fighting vehicles.

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Mehler Vario System and 3 Subsidiaries will Combine Forces to Maximise Their Draw Power at Upcoming GPEC Show in Frankfurt, Germany

Saturday, May 21st, 2022

FULDA, GERMANY (19 May 2022)—Mehler Vario System GmbH, Europe’s market leader for ballistics, today announced it will share stand space with subsidiaries Lindnerhof-Taktik GmbH, Mehler Engineered Defence GmbH, and Mehler Law Enforcement GmbH during the 2022 General Police Equipment Exhibition & Conference (GPEC) set for 31 May through 2 June in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany.

The occasion marks that Mehler Vario System and its three subsidiaries will jointly appear at GPEC. Company officials explained that bringing the four brands together at a single stand will synergistically enhance their prominence in the event, billed as Europe’s largest annual tradeshow for law enforcement, public safety, and homeland security services.

“Increasing our visibility will attract more visitors to our stand, which we’re looking forward to because our family of companies have some very impressive products to present and talk about,” said Mehler Vario System Managing Director Siegfried Will. “We are very confident that this combining of our forces will better facilitate technical discussions and allow us to more effectively answer questions about our highlighted products.”

The Mehler Vario System group will be located at stand J43 in Hall 3 of the city’s convention centre.

According to Will, Mehler Vario System plans to showcase—among other innovations—its new lightweight Comfort IV covert vest and certified H6S hybrid helmet.

“Both products are the lightest and most-comfortable ones in its category.”

Also expected to be presented is M.U.S.T., a project that Mehler Vario System has been working on jointly with Lenggries, Germany,-based Lindnerhof-Taktik, which makes high-quality tactical equipment systems.

“M.U.S.T. is a highly modular protection-and-carrying system that represents a light and quickly mountable-dismountable solution for police and the military,” Will explained. “Its individual modules can be universally combined by means of smart interfaces and, with ballistic components in place, M.U.S.T. provides an enlarged protection surface. The entire M.U.S.T package includes the carrying system, equipment bags, and operational clothing.”

Lindnerhof-Taktik, meanwhile, will present its new line of lightweight, high-performance, “no frills” combat clothing.

“Notable about the combat pants is they accept a variety of manufacturers’ knee-pad systems—no one else’s does,” said Lindnerhof Taktik Managing Director Jakob Kolbeck.

Lindnerhof-Taktik also plans to exhibit its MX634 multi-radio bag, improved MX116 MX-based admin panel, and novel head-system bag for toting a helmet plus accessories, Kolbeck said, adding that these and other planned-for-exhibit Lindnerhof-Taktik products underscore the company’s ability to learn from user feedback and combine those insights with innovative thinking to develop intelligent protection-and-carrying systems for fields beyond the traditional tactical space.

“For example, at our joint stand, Lindnerhof-Taktik will show a drone carrying system that can be adapted or developed into other applications,” he said. “Further, the bags that are part of that system feature diverse fastening options and imaginative inlays which could convincingly be the basis for rugged notebooks and tablets among other possibilities.”

Mehler Engineered Defence of Königslutter, Germany, will bring to the joint stand at GPEC its acclaimed line of ballistic personal protection shields. Christian Vahldiek, Managing Director of Mehler Engineered Defence, said some of the shields were developed and manufactured according to customer-specific designs in various protection classes including NIJ 0108.01, VPAM, TR bullet-resistance, and other standards related to protection against long- and short-range weapons threats.

“In addition to the shields made to customer specifications there also will be standard models,” he said. “Among the standard models will be small-format types for use in confined spaces such as aboard planes and ships and inside homes. There will also be larger but lightweight types for increased protection in evacuations and hostage situations. For riots and rampages, we’ll be showing foldable versions that are carried in patrol cars and deployed to protect against long weapons.”

Lastly, Mehler Law Enforcement, also based in Fulda, will demo its high-quality, functional, and modular equipment designed for use by security personnel in operational and crisis regions.

“Mehler Law Enforcement produces ballistic protective equipment, impact protection, operational gloves, and tactical equipment—they nicely round out the offerings of the entire Mehler Vario System family,” said Frank Rispeter, Managing Director of Mehler Law Enforcement.

For more information about Mehler Vario System and its subsidiaries visit: m-v-s.com

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Slovenia Procures 45 BOXER Vehicles

Thursday, May 19th, 2022

The Slovenian government, represented by the European procurement organization OCCAR, and ARTEC, a consortium of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall, have signed a contract for the delivery of 45 BOXER wheeled vehicles in four different variants.

The volume of the order amounts to EUR 281.5 million. Delivery of the BOXER vehicles is scheduled to begin in 2024 and be completed in 2026.

Now that EU and NATO member Slovenia has joined the BOXER program, it has six user states.

Modular vehicle – versatile and proven in operation

The BOXER is a highly protected 8×8 wheeled vehicle. Its modular architecture allows a diversity of variants like no other vehicle system. So far, approximately 1,500 vehicles in twenty different versions are under contract in the four NATO member states Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and the United Kingdom. NATO partner state Australia has opted for the BOXER as well.

ARTEC GmbH was founded in 1999 and is a joint venture between Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH and Rheinmetall Defence Nederland B.V. The company coordinates series production and serves as the point of contact for all export issues relating to the BOXER.

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