
Unmanned vehicle to evacuate casualties in Ukraine
Milrem Robotics in Estonia has shipped its THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to Ukraine to evacuate casualties (CASEVAC) and transport supplies.
A THeMIS UGV with stretchers for rapid casualty evacuation was delivered to a Ukrainian charitable organization. Onsite training was provided upon delivery for the quick deployment of the system, which will be the first use of UGV in an active battle situation.
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“Casualty evacuation is one of the most crucial and labour-intensive activities in conflicts. Traditionally, it takes several people to carry a stretcher and required medical equipment. However, it would require only one to operate a UGV, which can accommodate several wounded and a lot of equipment. This means that more personnel are available to help more people,” said Jüri Pajuste, Defence R&D Director at Milrem Robotics.
The THeMIS UGV has an open architecture for rapid configuration, for example from a transport to being weaponized, performing ordnance disposal, or supporting intelligence operations. It has been sold to 16 countries, 8 of which are members of NATO, including Estonia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and the US.
Milrem Robotics is also leading a €30m European consortium to develop a standardised unmanned ground system (UGS) and is working with Qinetiq in the UK on two UK large-scale robotics programs – JTARR (Joint Tactical Autonomous Resupply and Replenishment) and RPV (Robotic Platoon Vehicle), having collaborated on a logistics UGV called Titan.
Last year Milrem demonstrated two THeMIS systems operating together. One UGV was following a human operator walking along a path with various obstacles, with a second THeMIS following the first then returning to base independently. This was a good example of how the casualty evacuation system might be used in Ukraine.
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