Spanish Army buys Milrem ground robot for testing

SIEGEN, Germany — The Spanish military took delivery of a THeMIS robotic vehicle, made by Estonia’s Milrem Robotics, to gauge how unmanned ground technology can improve operations of its ground forces, the company announced Aug. 9.

The evaluation comes as some European armies are in the market to equip their soldiers with robots for anything from cargo carrying to surveillance and attack missions. Manufacturers hope the technology will one day be as ubiquitous as drones are in the air domain, though navigating the intricacies of earthly terrain has proved to be a harder nut to crack.

Spain’s robotic evaluation program, dubbed Scorpion, began in early 2021, though sporadic tests with THeMIS began as early as 2019 under the country’s Fuerza 35 effort, a major modernization program for the Army.

Milrem’s flagship product has been a staple at defense exhibitions for years, and the company displayed the THeMIS at last November’s FEINDEF show in Madrid, Spain.

“The THeMIS has already prove[d] itself to 12 countries, seven of which are members of NATO, as a capable, robust and versatile system,” said Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics. “We are glad that Spain has joined as the 13th user of THEMIS and chosen Milrem Robotics as a partner to build their robotic and autonomous systems capabilities.”

The company’s robot saw front-line action alongside deployed Estonian forces during the now-defunct Barkhane counterterrorism mission, led by France, in Mali. According to the manufacturer, the vehicle there logged 1,200 kilometers (746 miles miles) in harsh desert conditions.

Milrem, backed by the Estonian government, booked a major win in 2020 when it received the European Commission’s nod to lead a pan-European Union effort to create a standardized architecture for a new-generation unmanned ground system. While the effort is meant to be hardware-agnostic, it uses the THeMIS as a reference platform.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国锡根——爱沙尼亚 Milrem Robotics 公司于 8 月 9 日宣布，西班牙军方接收了该公司制造的 THeMIS 机器人车辆，以评估无人地面技术如何改善其地面部队的作战行动。

此次评估正值一些欧洲军队寻求为士兵配备机器人之际，这些机器人可用于执行从货物运输到侦察和攻击等各种任务。制造商希望这项技术有朝一日能像无人机在空中领域一样普及，但事实证明，如何应对复杂的地面地形仍然是一个棘手的难题。

西班牙的机器人评估计划，名为“蝎子”（Scorpion），于 2021 年初启动，尽管早在 2019 年，在该国的“Fuerza 35”计划（一项针对陆军的重大现代化计划）下，THeMIS 就已开始进行零星测试。

多年来，Milrem 的旗舰产品一直是国防展览会的常客，该公司去年 11 月在西班牙马德里举行的 FEINDEF 展会上展示了 THeMIS。

“THeMIS系统已经向12个国家（其中7个是北约成员国）证明了其功能强大、稳健可靠且用途广泛，”Milrem Robotics首席执行官Kuldar Väärsi表示，“我们很高兴西班牙成为THeMIS的第13个用户，并选择Milrem Robotics作为合作伙伴，共同构建其机器人和自主系统能力。”

该公司研发的机器人曾与部署在马里的爱沙尼亚部队并肩作战，参与了由法国领导、现已结束的“新月沙丘”反恐行动。据制造商称，该机器人在严酷的沙漠环境中行驶了1200公里（746英里）。

在爱沙尼亚政府的支持下，Milrem公司于2020年取得重大胜利，获得欧盟委员会的批准，牵头开展一项泛欧盟合作项目，旨在为新一代无人地面系统创建标准化架构。虽然该项目的目标是与硬件无关，但它以THeMIS作为参考平台。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。