Rheinmetall Acquires German Drone Manufacturer EMT

Rheinmetall is taking over the activities of EMT, a well-known German unmanned aerial vehicle maker.

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. An agreement to this effect has now been signed by both parties.

Headquartered in Penzberg in Bavaria, the company EMT Ingenieurgesellschaft Dipl.-Ing. Hartmut Euer mbH 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. LUNA NG is a key element in networked C4ISTAR communication and reconnaissance and is destined to play a vital role in tactical data transmission.

Expected to take effect at the end of December 2021, the takeover is an asset deal. 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.

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, e.g., manned/unmanned teaming. In addition, AI capabilities and applications (for automated data evaluation, for instance) can be further expanded as well as tested and directly integrated.

Merging Rheinmetall'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.

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.

EMT's activities will henceforth form part of the Group subsidiary Rheinmetall Technical Publications of Bremen.

Unmanned aviation systems from EMT are designed to carry various payloads for short and medium ranges of up to 100 km. Its best-known products are the 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. In the meantime, introduction is underway of the LUNA NG, an enhanced-performance successor system slated to replace the small KZO unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Rheinmetall in the nineties.

EMT's array of unmanned flight systems encompasses solutions for military and civil-sector applications alike. Flight control software for each aviation systems is also available, including customized periphery for an exceptionally wide range of operational scenarios, including reconnaissance, search and rescue as well as critical asset and infrastructure security.