► Hanwha signs teaming agreement with Milrem Robotics for Romanian UGV program

MAY 14, 2025 – Hanwha has teamed up with Estonia’s Milrem to jointly pursue Romania’s unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) program, marking a strategic step to diversify its footprint in the European defense market.

The teaming agreement was signed on the second day of the Black Sea Defense & Aerospace (BSDA) 2026 exhibition in Bucharest by Hanwha Aerospace, its Romanian subsidiary Hanwha Aerospace Romania (HARO), and Milrem Robotics.

The trilateral agreement establishes a collaborative framework to combine the companies’ respectivestrengths in wheeled and tracked unmanned systems, while supporting Romania’s requirement forlocalized production and industrial participation.

Under the partnership, Hanwha Aerospace Romania is expected to serve as the prime contractor,providing wheeled UGV platforms based on Arion-SMET and its upgraded variant GRUNT, a high-mobility6x6 platform designed for extended range, heavy payload, and modular mission adaptability. MilremRobotics will contribute its THeMIS tracked UGV platform and related technologies as part of Hanwha’sbroader integrated UGV offering for Romania. THeMIS is recognized for its stability in rugged terrain,hybrid propulsion, and flexible integration of mission payloads.

The collaboration reflects a coordinated approach among leading UGV defense manufacturers, withHanwha leading the overall program proposal, localized production, and industrial participation effortsin Romania, while integrating complementary unmanned technologies from Milrem Robotics to delivera tailored operational solution for Romanian defense requirements.

By integrating Milrem Robotics’ THeMIS — one of the world’s leading tracked UGV platforms — intoHanwha’s integrated UGV offering, the partners aim to establish a mutually beneficial structure thatstrengthens competitiveness in both the Romanian program and broader global markets.

Lino Lim, CEO of Hanwha Aerospace Romania, said :

“We are pleased to mark this collaboration at BSDA 2026, which represents an important step inbringing advanced unmanned capabilities into Romania through localized production and industrialcooperation. By combining next-generation UGV technologies from the two companies, we aim todeliver a flexible and scalable solution tailored to Romania’s operational needs, while contributing tothe development of its defense industrial base and strengthening European cooperation.”

Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics, said:

“Milrem Robotics’ THeMIS is one of the first unmanned ground vehicles in Europe that has successfullyentered series production. With two established manufacturing sites in Europe and extensiveexperience in technology transfer, we see strong potential to expand manufacturing capabilities toRomania in cooperation with Hanwha, while strengthening regional defense manufacturing capacity.”

Meanwhile, Hanwha Aerospace and Milrem Robotics successfully conducted a live Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) demonstration on May 12 near Bucharest ahead of BSDA 2026. Thedemonstration integrated Hanwha’s TIGON armored vehicle, GRUNT unmanned ground vehicle, andMilrem’s THeMIS Cargo platform in a realistic battlefield scenario involving reconnaissance andsurveillance missions, logistics resupply, casualty evacuation, and drone-enabled battlefieldmonitoring under simulated electronic warfare conditions.

The live demonstration drew strong attention from Romanian military leadership and defense officials, underscoring the growing cooperation between Hanwha Aerospace and Milrem Robotics in advancing next-generation unmanned battlefield capabilities for the Romanian and broader European defense market.