German Route Clearing Package

German Route Clearing Package: "The Bundesamt für Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung (BWB), Germany’s Federal Agency for Defence Technology and Procurement, has selected Rheinmetall to supply seven systems of the German Route Clearing Package (GRCP) by the end of the year, the company announced yesterday. The GRCP is designed to detect mines and improvised explosive devices along convoy routes.

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Each system will consist of four vehicles: one to detect explosive devices, one to clear them, a command vehicle and a transport vehicle. The detection vehicle will be Rheinmetall’s remote control Wiesel, equipped with a newly developed built-in dual sensor with ground penetration radar and a metal detector.

The command vehicle will be the Fuchs (Fox) 1A8 armored personnel carrier equipped with workstations for operating remote control systems and systems for evaluating signals from the dual sensor. The crew on board the Fuchs command vehicle will use an integrated video system to continuously monitor operations.

Separately, the BWB ordered the remote control MiniMinewolf vehicle which will be used for neutralizing unexploded ordnance. The six-ton vehicle can be equipped with a robot arm, mine plough or bulldozer blade, depending on mission requirements. Rheinmetall is developing a manipulator arm for bomb disposal with an operating reach of over ten meters and able to pick up heavy objects at a safe distance.

The GRCP transport vehicle will be the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles' Multi FSA logistics vehicle."