UK company tests its unmanned supply vehicle in Switzerland
A new British-designed unmanned supply vehicle built to haul more than a ton of gear for frontline troops has been put to work at a European military exercise in Switzerland, according to the company that makes it.
Oliver North, founder and chief executive of North Defence Group, said on social media on Thursday that he had seen the company’s unmanned ground vehicle “in operation alongside some of Europe’s most innovative defence technology companies” this week at ALPEX 2026.
North said the exercise was run by the Swiss Armed Forces Logistics Organisation together with the Swiss Armed Forces and the European Defence Agency. He called it “a truly brilliant exercise.”
The European Defence Agency said in May that it would hold a second field-testing campaign this year in Switzerland, at the Bure military area in the Jura region, focused on unmanned systems that move military supplies.
North Defence first showed the UGV on Oct. 9 at the opening of its new factory in Elland, Yorkshire. It said then that the robot would go to Switzerland for trials, with a full market launch expected later this winter.
According to the company, the vehicle is a compact electric or hybrid robot that can carry more than 1,000 kg (2,200 pounds). It’s under 3 m (9.8 feet) long, so two fit in a standard shipping container, and it can be dropped by parachute or slung under a helicopter.
A “follow me” mode lets it trail a soldier or a lead vehicle without a driver. It can also drive itself between waypoints and, the company says, keep navigating when GPS is jammed. Its flatbed can take a remote weapon station, a counter-drone system or a surveillance mast.
Running the length of the vehicle is an armored compartment the company calls the “life-cell.” It can carry extra batteries or move a wounded soldier under protection.
Ground robots like this are being built for the most dangerous stretch of the supply chain, the last few kilometers to the front line. In Ukraine, the Protector, a diesel robot made by Ukrainian Armor, carries ammunition and wounded troops, and Germany has funded 100 of them for Ukraine’s National Guard.
North, a former British Army Royal Engineer, started the business as North Fire, a maker of firefighting vehicles. He renamed it North Defence and opened a European headquarters and factory in Luxembourg, where the company says the UGV was engineered.
The company says it has developed its vehicles with feedback from the front line in Ukraine, where North has made 17 trips.
Source: Defence Blog
