Guests Have A Blast At Mine-Clearing Demo

The newest addition to Rheinmetall's mine-clearing vehicles, the Keiler Next Generation (NG), showed what it can do in a live demonstration staged at Germany's largest military training area.

The NG, a highly armoured breaching system, was put through its paces on August 14 at the Bergen Hohne Training Area in Lower Saxony in northern Germany in front of about 100 invited guests from the armed forces, procurement authorities and industry.

As per a Rheinmetall press release, the NG first showed how quickly it could cut a cleared path through a minefield. The platform's 4-metre-wide Pearson plough was used for this and the vehicle can clear mines at a speed of up to 250 metres every minute.

If needed, the vehicle can transition into clearing anti-tank obstacles, filling in trenches or digging emplacements by switching the plough for a bulldozer blade.

In a second section of the exercise, the platform then showcased its rocket-supported ‘Plofadder’ detonation cord. This system, developed by  Rheinmetall Denel Munition, can clear a swathe through a minefield measuring 60m long and 9m wide in just minutes.

A third capability of the Keiler NG is its magnetic signature duplicator which can set off second-generation mines at distance well in front of the vehicle. The NG also features an  integrated lane-marking system marking safe routes for following forces.

The Keiler NG was unveiled to the public for the first time at the Eurosatory 2024 trade fair in Paris. Based on the Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle chassis and part of the Leopard 2 family, the 63-ton platform has a top speed of 65kph.

Read more details on the Rheinmetall website