Hanwha Defence Australia and Milrem Robotics sign MoU at Land Forces Conference 2026

Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA) and Milrem Robotics are expanding their cooperation in uncrewed ground systems with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at the Land Forces Conference in Perth.

HDA have purchased a THeMIS Uncrewed Ground Vehicle (UGV), on show in the trade halls at the conference, the leading battlefield-proven UGV is in use or part of robotics programs in 20 nations worldwide.

The MoU establishes a framework for HDA to market, pursue local production, sell and sustain THeMIS locally in Australia for the wider region. This includes developing an Australian supply chain, building local maintenance and upgrade capabilities, and integrating payloads and subsystems to meet the specific requirements of regional customers. This work will be carried out at the Hanwha Armoured vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) in regional Victoria.

Milrem Robotics will contribute localisation planning, transfer of technology, technical know-how and engineering expertise to enable these activities.

The MoU cooperation also includes an option to integrate Milrem Robotics’ Intelligent Function Integration Kit (MIFIK) with HDA’s uncrewed and crewed platforms in Australia in the Redback and Huntsman family of vehicles. MIFIK enables the addition of capabilities such as autonomous navigation and mission execution to different types of vehicles.

“We are excited to work with Milrem Robotics to bring the highly capable THeMIS UGV to Australia and collaborate on future development, leveraging the strong Hanwha skills base in both Australia and South Korea relevant to this capability,” HDA’s Head of Research and Development Glenn Halupka said.

“HDA will also leverage this mature platform to enable collaborations with Australian defence industry in both the development and integration of supporting technologies to meet Army’s operational requirements. We are moving quickly, conducting a number of training activities in the lead up to some planned demonstrations later this year.”

“This agreement is an important step in expanding our cooperation with Hanwha and strengthening our presence in Australia,” Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics said. “We want to establish the capability to integrate, sustain and further develop our systems locally, while bringing Australian technologies and industry into the solutions we offer in the region.

“Australia is an important market for military robotics, and Hanwha Defence Australia gives us a strong industrial partner with the local expertise and infrastructure needed to support customers over the long term.”

The new initiatives build on existing cooperation between HDA’s parent company, Hanwha Aerospace, and Milrem Robotics announced last month. The companies have previously agreed to cooperate on ground robotics initiatives in South Korea and are jointly pursuing Romania’s uncrewed ground vehicle program, including opportunities for localised production and industrial participation in that market.

Image caption: L-R HDA R&D EngineerTim Atkinson, HDA Head of R&D Glenn Halupka, HDA Deputy CEO Maro Kim, MilremRobotics Chief Sales Officer Stefan Behre, Milrem Robotics Regional AccountManager Rasmus Luhakooder at the signing ceremony at LFC2026.