MISSION MASTER Shown With WARMATE Integrated

At MSPO 2019 in Kielce last week, WB Group – a leader among Polish defence companies – in cooperation with Rheinmetall Defence presented for the first time an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in 8×8 configuration. The MISSION MASTER was equipped with a launcher for six of WB’s WARMATE-TL (Tube Launch) combat unmanned aerial systems (CUAS). The air vehicle’s airframe automatically unfoldsduring take-off. Easy transport and a very rapid deployment time makes WARMATE-TL a very useful tool for both observation and attack duties.

According to the manufacturers, WARMATE is able to scan the battlefield, detect and determine the exact position of an enemy and, when a decision is made, to attack it by diving. It is then equipped with an observation head with GO-1 fragmentation charge against enemy personnel or with GK-1 shaped fragmentation charge against armoured targets. It also has an observation mode – in this configuration WARMATE is equipped with the GS-9 observation head and can be recovered and used again. WARMATE has already been sold to several undisclosed international customers, as well as the Polish army. Its operational range is 10km, while flight duration is 50 minutes. WARMATE’s wingspan is 1.4m and fuselage length 1.1m. It can be also mounted on larger vehicles, including APCs. WB Group underlines that WARMATE is an efficient alternative to conventional anti-tank guided weapons (ATGW) due to its significantly larger radius of action and much better detection capabilities.

Rheinmetall’s MISSION MASTER debuted during IDEX 2017 in Abu Dhabi. It is based on the suspension of the AVRO AVENGER 750 EFI 8×8, developed by Argo in 2007. It can perform various duties, including transport, force protection and surveillance, using a variety of modular payloads. In 2019 an armed variant – with two launchers of 70mm guided/unguided rockets – was presented. The vehicle’s maximum payload is roughly 500kg, falling to 400 in amphibious configuration.

Robert Czulda