EMT Luna NG UAV: German defence giant Rheinmetall has acquired Bavaria based unmanned aerial vehicle maker EMT as part of its digitization strategy. Rheinmetall AG of Düsseldorf is taking over the activities of EMT, an agreement to this effect has now been signed by both parties, said the company.
EMT, which has its headquarters in Penzberg in Bavaria, develops, produces and maintains unarmed tactical aviation systems for reconnaissance missions.
EMT’s most important customer is the German Bundeswehr, which is currently introducing the company’s newly developed LUNA NG reconnaissance system.
Rheinmetall said LUNA NG was a key element in networked C4ISTAR communication and reconnaissance and was destined to play a vital role in tactical data transmission.
The deal was expected to take effect by the end of this year.
“In addition to the normal board decisions, the transaction still requires final approval from the competition authorities. The parties to the transaction have agreed not to disclose the purchase price,” Rheinmetall said in a statement sent to Defence Star.
“LUNA NG provides the Bundeswehr with a key capability, making it an important building block on the path to digitizing Germany’s armed forces. It forms the basis for new applications and development activities such as manned and unmanned teaming,” it added.
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Rheinmetall said with the acquisition the AI capabilities and applications (for automated data evaluation, for instance) can be further expanded as well as tested and directly integrated with this acquisition.
The German defence company said EMT’s take over will assure an extremely high degree of security and dependability for its military customers with respect to long-term care, maintenance and continued development of this high-performance system.
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EMT’s LUNA-NG UAV.
EMT LUNA-NG UAV
“During deployed operations, the LUNA family will give Rheinmetall’s international customers the ability to evaluate the evolving military situation in optimum fashion, furnishing tactical information that enables them to protect their forces on the ground to the maximum degree,” it said.
The transaction reflects Rheinmetall’s strategy of expanding its portfolio of systems and equipment to meet the needs of its military customers.
Rheinmetall said this approach ensured that important defence technology capabilities would be maintained in Germany.
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“Merging the Group’s expertise with that of EMT enhances Rheinmetall’s ability to take charge of central elements of the networked digital communication and reconnaissance capabilities of the armed forces of Germany and its allies,” said the company.
In the detection and engagement sequences of the modern digital battlespace, information collected and distributed by unmanned aerial systems plays a vital role in military decision making at the tactical, operational and strategic level.
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EMT locations to be maintained and integrated into the Group structure
Rheinmetall plans to take over in their entirety EMT’s highly developed capabilities and expertise. The Group intends to maintain the company’s four locations in Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein and to integrate the current staff into the Rheinmetall workforce.
EMT’s activities will henceforth form part of the Group subsidiary Rheinmetall Technical Publications of Bremen. As an approved aviation organization, for over ten years Rheinmetall Technical Publications has taken care of Germany’s “Kleinfluggerät Zielortung” (KZO) target location UAV, assuring its operational readiness as well as performing other specific tasks.
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EMT’s Aladin very short range drone.
EMT: Elektro-Mechanische Technologien
Originally known as Elektro-Mechanische Technologien GmbH, EMT was founded in 1978 in Gauting near Munich.
Customers of this approved aviation organization for unmanned tactical aerial systems include the Bundeswehr as well as the armed forces of foreign states.
The company’s staff of just under 200 employees are located at four different sites around Germany: Penzberg in Upper Bavaria (EMT´s head office since 1987), Iffeldorf (Upper Bavaria), Abenberg (Central Franconia) and Osterrönfeld in Schleswig-Holstein.
The company has been in self-administered insolvency since December 2020.
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Unmanned aviation systems from EMT are designed to carry various payloads for short and medium ranges of up to 100 kilometers.
EMT manufacturers very short-range ALADIN drone and the – likewise unarmed – LUNA tactical reconnaissance system, which the Bundeswehr has been using in aerial reconnaissance operations ever since 2000 in Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan as well as in Mali since 2016.
German military is in the process of inducting LUNA NG, an enhanced-performance successor system slated to replace the small KZO unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Rheinmetall in the nineties.
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