Russian tanks on the streets of Germany are not the army of Putin. Life-size replicas of Russian armored vehicles have been purchased by the German military.
Gaardtech, an Australian defense firm, has a $385,000 contract with the Bundeswehrs.
There is a chance that German and Russian troops may engage in battle for the first time since the end of the Cold War, as Germany is revitalizing its military after Russia's invasion of Ukrainian.
Gaardtech makes robotic enemy vehicles for more than 20 designs from Russia and China.
—GaardTech (@GaardTech) August 13, 2022
The most common Russian armored vehicles include T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks, BTR 70, BTR 80 and BTR-90 troop carriers, and BRDM anti-tank missile platforms.
The company has models of Russian SA6 and ZSU-23-4 air defense vehicles, as well as replicas of Chinese type 59, 85, and 99 tanks.
Gaardtech has a target vehicle for Russia's next- generation T-14 Armata tank, but not much information is publicly available.
GaardTech's founding director told Insider that the robots are based on open-sourced data.
The idea of mock enemy vehicles has been around for a long time. In World War II, the Allies used inflatable rubber tanks to fool Nazi spies, and in recent years, movies have used fake tanks. Those are immobile and wouldn't pass close inspection.
The Gaardtech vehicles look a lot more realistic.
turrets that actually rotates are one of the features that can be tailored to the robot's needs. Each vehicle weighs over 1,300 pounds and is made of steel. Four people can assemble them in one hour.
In order to get a feel for how a real Russian or Chinese tank looks in a thermal sight, pilots, gunners and sensor operators can use the robot's thermal cells.
The active thermal cells give a high fidelity engine bay and track thermal signature for IR detection that works in all weather conditions.
The robot vehicles can be controlled from a distance. They are capable of moving in formation to practice their tactics.
The vehicles can be programmed and controlled from a single device. GaardTech software controls the formation once it is told what to do.
Live target practice can be done using the Gaardtech vehicles. They are intended to be consumables. They can be engaged in many different ways. They have been fired on by F-18s, Javelins, NLAWs, 120-mm tank rounds, and 40- and 84-mm rounds.
The robot can be used again and again. If a system is damaged during a live-fire event, the robotic kits can be used to replace it.
He said that a robot costs 1/6th of a real tank. Poland just decided to buy 250 of the latest M1A2 versions for $4.8 billion, while an M-1A2 Abrams costs an estimated $9 million in 2016 and $11 million in 2022.
The Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force, the US Marine Corps, and the British Army have all used GaardTech.
He said his military experiences inspired him to create the robot vehicles.
There is a huge problem with how a joint force trains and exercises all of its assets, how the soldier spots the target correctly, and the targeting cycle being executed efficiently by a multinational joint force headquarters.
It's natural for GaardTech to focus on the designs of Russian and Chinese weapons that are used against NATO and other western allies. The company can do simulations of weapons from other countries.
Any vehicle or aircraft can be made into a high-fidelity robotic decoy. A lot of the work is done by our in-house team.
His work has been published in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He has a masters degree in political science. You can follow him on social networking sites.
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