Hanwha Defense Intelligent Multipurpose Unmanned Vehicle to Be Deployed for Military Trial Operation in the Second Half of This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] The cutting-edge AI-based multipurpose unmanned vehicle being developed by Hanwha Defense will be deployed for military trial operation in the second half of this year.

According to Hanwha Defense on the 31st, the Army recently notified the Defense Acquisition Program Administration that the intelligent multipurpose unmanned vehicle developed by Hanwha Defense is suitable for military trial operation as an export weapon system. Accordingly, the Army plans to verify the mission performance, operation and handling convenience, and tactical operability of the intelligent multipurpose unmanned vehicle prototype in the second half of this year.

The multipurpose unmanned vehicle is a 2-ton class vehicle assigned to infantry units, designed as a future defense robot that performs various missions such as transporting supplies and ammunition, reconnaissance, casualty evacuation, and close combat support in high-risk battlefield environments instead of soldiers.

Previously, Hanwha Defense developed the first domestically produced electric-driven 4-wheel drive multipurpose unmanned vehicle for infantry as a civilian-military cooperation project, and sufficiently demonstrated its operational suitability and safety through military trial operation and combat experiments.

The intelligent multipurpose unmanned vehicle to be unveiled in July features a 6-wheel drive platform, with major performance improvements in maximum speed, payload capacity, and cruising range compared to the previous model. Most notably, the payload capacity has more than doubled from the previous 200kg, expected to dramatically enhance combat support capabilities such as heavy load transport and casualty evacuation. The cruising range per single charge has also increased nearly fourfold from the previous 25km.

Hanwha Defense 6x6 Intelligent Multipurpose Unmanned Vehicle

In addition to military communication networks, auxiliary communication relay using commercial 5G and LTE networks is possible, enabling uninterrupted remote and autonomous driving and large-capacity data transmission and reception even in mountainous terrain. Especially, in case of communication failure, it attempts to reconnect automatically for one minute and if not restored, it returns to the initial departure point with a 'Smart Autonomous Return' function.

Yeong-jin Jeon, head of the unmanned business team at Hanwha Defense, said, "The intelligent multipurpose unmanned vehicle is a state-of-the-art unmanned solution developed reflecting the rapid growth and technological trends of the overseas unmanned vehicle market. We will lead the overseas market entry of domestically produced unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) by developing the best-in-class multipurpose unmanned vehicle that outperforms prototypes from major advanced countries."

Since 2006, Hanwha Defense has accumulated extensive experience and proven technology by carrying out more than 15 national projects related to unmanned systems and defense robots. In addition to the multipurpose unmanned vehicle, it participates in the development of unmanned reconnaissance vehicles and explosive detection and removal robot systems, leading the development of unmanned systems and defense robots incorporating 4th Industrial Revolution technologies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.