Romanian ground drone that fights fires gets military role

Romanian company Maximus Labs has released new footage of its Max1 unmanned ground vehicle and now says the tracked machine is deployed in a military theater of operations, although it has not named the armed force using it or where.

Chief executive Alexandru Radulescu made the claim in a LinkedIn post accompanying the images, writing that Max1 has been operating for years across multiple countries, fights fires, works in mines and tunnels, and is “set to become the backbone of the army.” He did not identify which army, how many vehicles are in service, or whether any government has signed a purchase contract.

“Max1 is the result of 14 years of research, a multi-role, dual-use UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) built for high-risk missions,” Radulescu wrote.

The post also took aim at rivals, describing Max1 as a working machine that does not dance or perform martial arts, and that needs no operators in haptic suits hidden behind the scenes, an apparent reference to the humanoid machines that have appeared in recent technology demonstrations.

Radulescu said the vehicle, its remote weapon station and a low-altitude radar are all built in Romania on a fully national supply chain, with 70% to 80% of components made in the company’s own Romanian factory. That description differs from what Maximus Labs told The Defence Blog in August, when it said Max1 was produced entirely within the European Union except for American-made communications equipment and NVIDIA Jetson processing modules. Romanian business outlet Economica.net reported at the time that Max1 was being built under a French license in cooperation with state arms maker Romarm and the ICI research institute.

The company has made several claims about Max1’s use that have not been independently confirmed. In August, Maximus Labs told The Defence Blog the vehicle was NATO-approved and operational in the United States, France and Poland, with further testing in Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, India and Morocco. It did not provide documentation for those statements.

Built around a modular chassis, Max1 is meant to switch between roles by changing its payload. According to the company, it carries up to 850 kg (1,874 pounds), withstands temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit), and runs for more than four hours on dual sodium-ion batteries at a top speed of 16 km/h (9.9 mph). Defense modules listed by Maximus Labs include remote weapon stations with 12.7 mm machine guns or grenade launchers, along with low-altitude radar and electronic warfare equipment. Logistics options range from casualty evacuation kits to mine-clearing attachments.

The company says Max1 uses an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module for functions such as follow-me and return-to-home, and that a weapon-equipped version can detect and track targets autonomously at about 5 km (3.1 miles). Firing still requires authorization from a human operator, Maximus Labs said.

Romania, which borders Ukraine and has had Russian drone debris land on its territory since 2022, has been expanding domestic defense production, but the Romanian Ministry of National Defense has not announced any order for Max1.