SYNOPSIS
As NATO members ramp up defence spending, Europe’s defence industrial base is stepping up to meet demand.
ARX Robotics is a German defence technology company founded in 2022 by former German Army officers. The company develops autonomous uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) and AI-powered software that help military forces automate logistics, reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and other battlefield tasks.
ARX Robotics UGVs are in extensive use with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, frontline troops providing feedback to engineers who adapt the products to their requirements, as well as being used by several NATO nations, including Germany and the United Kingdom.
Footage of the Gereon RCS being built and tested outdoors. Interviews with the ARX Robotics CEO, a worker and footage from the factory in Munich.
SHOTLIST
---SHOTLIST—
(00:00) CLOSE-UP SHOT - OPERATOR PUTTING ON CONTROLLER
(00:06) VARIOUS SHOTS - OPERATOR CONTROLLING GEREON RCS UNCREWED GROUND VEHICLE (UGV)
(00:24) WIDE SHOT - GEREON RCS UGV DRIVING THROUGH FIELD
(00:30) VARIOUS SHOTS - GEREON RCS UGV NAVIGATING OBSTACLES
(01:01) SLOW MOTION SHOT – NO AUDIO - GEREON RCS UGV NAVIGATING OBSTACLES
(01:07) MEDIUM SHOT - OPERATOR CONTROLLING GEREON RCS
(01:12) CLOSE-UP SHOT - CONTROLLER OF GEREON RCS
(01:14) CLOSE-UP SHOT - OPERATOR CONTROLLING GEREON RCS X2
(01:21) VARIOUS SLOW MOTION SHOTS – NO AUDIO - GEREON RCS MOVING THROUGH FIELD
(03:30) SLOW MOTION SHOT – NO AUDIO – BATTERY INDICATOR ON GEREON RCS
(03:34) VARIOUS SHOTS – FACTORY WORKER CHECKING PANNELS OF GEREON RCS
(04:02) MEDIUM SHOT - WORKER LIFTING GEREON RCS OFF SHELF IN FACTORY
(04:06) CLOSE UP SHOT - WORKER BUILDING GEREON RCS OFF SHELF IN FACTORY
(04:12) VARIOUS SHOTS - GEREON RCS READY TO BE SHIPPED FROM FACTORY
[04:28] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“ARX Robotics is a defence scale-up in the land domain. What we are building is software defined defence neo prime, means we use software as the main part of our capabilities and we produce hardware in the mass. And it's mainly about ground robotics. So unmanned ground systems on one hand. On the other hand, we digitise and transform the existing fleets of NATO from analogue systems to software defined systems.”
[05:00] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“Our customers are the European MODs and our partners in Ukraine. We deployed the largest Western-built robotic military fleet in Ukraine. So we are talking about several hundred systems on daily duty on the frontline in Ukraine to support our partners there. Main MODs or main customers are also the German Army, the British Army and some other partners, like Poland, Estonia. So our robots are deployed in more than 12 European MODs.”
[05:43] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“So our partnership with the Ukrainian Armed Forces is very crucial to us as a company and for our technology. Two and a half years ago, very early, when the war started and the new technologies started to make a difference on the battlefield, we went with our technology, with our robots to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and donated the first system. And this system was built regarding or adapted to the procurement office requirements of a European MOD, and it failed immediately at the front line. So what we did is together with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, we developed a system which is suitable for the reality of the battlefield instead of our more regulation and product compliance regulated environment in Europe. And after only three months, we went back with a new system which was completely focused on a battlefield effect to support the soldiers. And this is where the journey started, that we deployed the biggest, Western or the biggest Western-built fleet of unmanned ground systems, robots in Ukraine and, we’re still doing it in pretty high numbers. So we scaled it and we propelled the technology. We developed the technology in very short iterations, together with the Ukrainians. We also started a company in Ukraine. So there's a ARX subsidiary, a 100% subsidiary in Ukraine, localising and supporting the armed forces in the usage of our systems on a daily basis.”
[07:30] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“In our partnership with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, we learned that new technologies are nothing you can just hand over. You can just deploy, you can just ship. It's not about the shipping of a product. It's about a technology partnership. And companies are now very involved in the usage and in the fast iteration of the development of these technologies at the front line. It means that what we built was a Ukrainian subsidiary of ARX, with Ukrainian leadership, with a Ukrainian team and with a feedback loop, which is not front line to Kyiv or front line to Munich, because this would just not work, because it is too slow for the pace on the battlefield right now. So, what we are doing is we support the armed forces to use our technology to adopt our systems on side from front line to Kyiv, and wherever they need us, we are there with them.”
[08:31] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“When it comes to the learnings, to the experience and expertise in using these systems and using AI and deploy AI applications on unmanned systems on the ground, this is something where we try to share a common sense between the MODs. So by sharing or bringing together the UK armed forces with the German armed forces, with the Polish armed forces and our partners in the Ukraine, we try to gain an edge in these new technologies and its usage for our armed forces in Europe.”
[09:06] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“NATO means a lot to us. It's not only the protector of our society, the peacekeeper of our democracy. It's also one of our main investors via the NATO Innovation Fund. The NATO Innovation Fund invested pretty early in the seed stage in our company and was very helpful with its adoption strategy to implement our technologies in the European MODs. We try to scale our capabilities and we need companies like ARX to produce a mass of unmanned systems. It's not about... If we want to build real deterrence to keep our peace or to keep Europe peaceful, to protect Europe, we need companies that can scale, not to hundreds or thousands, but to send in one hundred thousand to create a mass of new technologies. Because innovation and industrial capability and capacity is something we need to think and do together.”
[10:13] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“The future of warfare will be defined by the pace of technology. And for us, it will be extremely important to keep up with this pace, especially when it comes to our procurement processes in defence. We need to keep up with the pace of technology, otherwise we lose advantage on the battlefield for our armed forces. So we need to provide the best and the latest technology as fast as possible in the highest quality and quantity for our armed forces to help them to fulfil their mission successfully and for companies like ours, for companies like ARX Robotics, this means that we need to grow but to keep a lean and fast development, to adopt pretty fast and to front run the development of new technologies. And this means taking a risk.”
[11:14] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“So of course we need our tanks, we need our ships, and we need our fighter jets, but we need a critical and high mass of unmanned systems, new technologies. We need to exploit AI to decide faster and to act better than our enemies.”
[11:33] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“So we won a programme of record in Germany to deploy unmanned systems and AI at the east flank to protect the eastern border of NATO. And we won also contracts in the UK or other smaller neighbour countries, of our main markets, Germany, UK and Ukraine. And in Ukraine, we are now the main Western supplier for unmanned ground systems. So the largest UGV or robotic partner of the Ukrainian Armed Forces outside of Ukraine. And I think this shows that companies can grow pretty fast in that space and that scaling is something you need to think about, not when the contract arrives, but in the very early days of prototyping of a product. It needs to be scalable to thousands and hundreds of thousands, because this is what the armed forces will need. When it comes to unmanned systems in future.”
[12:42] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“I think NATO and especially the European NATO members have a challenge that they are outnumbered in personnel and material by their potential adversaries. And unmanned systems and software and AI capabilities are the only way to balance this, to gain the advantage and to balance that we are outnumbered or sometimes outpaced when it comes to industrial capacity or capabilities. And that unmanned systems are the perfect fit for the future warfare, because the future warfare will be faster, will be technology-driven, will be highly adaptive, so will change pretty fast. And unmanned systems and software-defined systems are a measurement to react, are a tool for our armed forces to react and to keep distance to this enemy. Because when we entered in Ukraine, the distance at the frontline between the enemy and our own forces was a few kilometres. It then went pretty fast to 10-15km. It's now sometimes even more than 20-25km. And we will see 40- and 80-kilometre distances in the next years. It means warfare will change. And unmanned systems are a tool for our armed forces to adapt to it.”
[14:18] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Marc Wietfeld, CEO, ARX Robotics
“We are convinced that the capability of scaling new technologies, like unmanned ground systems or unmanned systems in general, to a very high number, could avoid a war. So what we try to build with these new technologies and its scalability is deterrence. And this is why we started in peacetime to build military robots, but also because we were former officers. We were already pretty close to the fact that freedom and democracy is something which needs to be protected. And therefore, it was pretty clear for us that new technologies are a key to build deterrence as fast as possible, faster than we can produce tanks, ships or fighter jets.”
[15:12] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“My name is Sylvain, I'm a French citizen working in Germany, and I joined ARX Robotics two months ago as field engineer. My daily work is to close the gap between the field and directly talk to the users, operators or soldiers and then get the feedback for the engineers to improve the technology and UGV that we have on the field.”
[15:42] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“So ARX has today the biggest fit in Ukraine and we call it GEREON. It's a UGV, so unmanned vehicle that the soldier can use for logistic purpose or other type of purpose.”
“What I like with my job is, of course, the contact with the customer or the user, getting their feedback on how they see the future of warfare, for sure. And also how we can improve the technology ARX is proposing today.”
[16:20] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“So as French, living in Germany, so part of European countries, I am committed to secure the European border. And I see that the technology that ARX is proposing will improve this defence capability for European countries.”
[16:40] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
So I see the future in defence with UGV and UAV. Today we are talking a lot about drones but we forget a bit about UGV, and the ground vehicles are also important for logistic, helping the soldier unloading huge capability and also helping them in the front, for reconnaissance. And I see that UGV is the future.
[17:10] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“I mean, today we see it in Ukraine. It will be the first product used in front, instead of human. So we can secure this human life, by sending UGV for example. And also today in Ukraine, it’s mainly used for logistic purpose and also to save life, for wounded people. And I see that is the future, because the technology will improve fast and it's just the beginning of UGV. Drones technology have other capability but UGV, we see it today, we have logistic baskets, wounded stretcher, but we can have other type of payload on it.”
[18:03] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“So different sectors is way ahead of civilian sectors in terms of technology, we are talking about the next 20 years and not next year technology. And everything has to be rewritten again. The technology can change tomorrow, can change in 10 years. But we are already ahead of technology you use every day. So I would urge people who wants to work for defence company because it's where the technology and the most interesting work is.”
[18:39] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“So every time the Ukrainians use the robots, they make a report if the mission was a success or if they faced an issue. For sure, if it's a software issue, we will then create tickets and step by step, improve it. If it's hardware issues, our engineer will work on it. It will probably take longer time to improve the robots, but we stay in contact, I would say, every week, every day, every time they have a mission and they make a report. It's a live feedback. And as ARX has the biggest UGV fleet in Ukraine, we usually have a lot of feedback every week. And for example, we will improve constantly the robots. Now the next delivery would be another version of the robots with other improvement. And it will make the robot more reliable on the field.”
[19:42] SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH, Sylvain, worker, ARX Robotics
“And what I like also in my job as a civil engineer is that I cannot come and not plan anything because every day is different. We also talk to a lot of people, mainly the operator and also the engineer. So I'm making the bridge between both parties, and it's what I like the most.”
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