Demo Day Near Bucharest Featured TIGON, GRUNT, And THeMIS
Participating in the performance demonstration event (Demo Day) held at an outdoor tactical training ground near Bucharest, Romania on May 12 (local time) are (from left) Hanwha Aerospace’s TIGON wheeled armored vehicle, the THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle, and the GRUNT multi-purpose unmanned vehicle.(Photo=Hanwha)
Hanwha Aerospace announced on May 14 that it successfully completed an integrated performance demonstration of a manned-unmanned teaming combat system in Romania.
Hanwha Aerospace was the only domestic company to participate in a performance demonstration event (‘Demo Day’) held on May 12 (local time) in connection with the ‘BSDA 2026 (Black Sea Defense & Aerospace)’ international defense exhibition. At this event held at an outdoor tactical training ground near Bucharest, Romania, Hanwha Aerospace presented a demonstration of a manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) combat system that integrated the operation of the TIGON wheeled armored vehicle, the GRUNT multi-purpose unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), and THeMIS developed by Estonia’s Milrem Robotics. Approximately 50 people, including major commanders such as Lieutenant General Ciprian Marin, Chief of the Romanian Land Forces, Mircea Gologan, Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff for Resources, and Daniel Pop, Deputy Chief of the Land Forces, as well as figures from the defense industries of various countries, observed the event.
Taking the first turn in the demonstration, Hanwha Aerospace presented a future battlefield scenario in which a manned armored vehicle and unmanned ground vehicles were linked. The GRUNT and THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles were deployed in advance to dangerous areas to perform reconnaissance and surveillance missions linked with drones, while the TIGON armored vehicle was responsible for troop transport and firepower support. This was followed by the supply of materials and the evacuation of the wounded using unmanned vehicles, thereby implementing the operational concept of manned-unmanned teaming operations. In particular, GRUNT, a next-generation multi-purpose unmanned vehicle developed based on the existing Arion-SMET, applied a hybrid drive system and garnered significant interest from attendees by demonstrating a maximum payload capacity of the 900kg class, autonomous follow-me driving, automatic recognition and tracking, and electronic warfare response capabilities.
In the subsequent integrated performance demonstration by the Romanian Land Forces, GRUNT and THeMIS also participated, demonstrating their strengths in troop protection and maneuver operation support while carrying out reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
This event is highly significant as it was the first instance of military unmanned vehicles developed domestically conducting an actual performance demonstration locally in Europe, showcasing their competitiveness in the European and global UGV markets. In particular, it was evaluated as presenting the direction of next-generation battlefield operations demanded by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European market by implementing a future ground warfare concept that responds to various combat situations through real-time linkage between manned and unmanned systems.
A Romanian military commander who observed the event said, “Through this performance demonstration, we were able to confirm specifically how existing weapon systems and UGV forces can be integrated and operated in the future,” and added, “It was a great opportunity to examine the excellence of the multi-purpose unmanned vehicle developed by Hanwha in particular.”
Park Byung-ho, Head of the LS4 Business Division at Hanwha Aerospace, said, “As domestically developed UGVs successfully completed their first performance demonstration in Europe, they proved their technological competitiveness and operational scalability in the global market,” and added, “It is particularly meaningful in that it verified the capabilities of a manned-unmanned teaming system capable of performing various integrated missions on the battlefield in an actual maneuver environment, thereby presenting the direction for the development of multi-purpose unmanned systems being pursued by the domestic military, as well as the next-generation ground warfare operational concept required by NATO and European customers.”
Jung Min-hee
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