Vehicle systems Rheinmetall Acquires Majority Stake in DOK-ING from Croatia

Related Vendors

Rheinmetall AG

GGB Heilbronn GmbH

Fastems Systems GmbH

item Industrietechnik Schweiz GmbH

A Strategic acquisition in manned and autonomous systems.

The Düsseldorf (Germany)-based technology group Rheinmetall is expanding its portfolio through an acquisition in the field of unmanned vehicles. In Zagreb, Rheinmetall has now contractually agreed to acquire a majority stake in the Croatian vehicle specialist DOK-ING. Rheinmetall will acquire 51% of the company, while the founder and previous sole owner of the company, Vjekoslav Majetić, will retain the remaining shares (49%). Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction remains subject to approval by the responsible regulatory authorities.

In the presence of Ivan Anušić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Croatia, Vjekoslav Majetić and Björn Bernhard, CEO of Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems Europe division, signed the contractual agreement on 4 March 2026.

Dr. Björn Bernhard: “The combination of Rheinmetall’s know-how in the field of tactical vehicles and DOK-ING’s capabilities in unmanned vehicles creates a unique competence that opens up considerable future potential for us. At the same time, we are establishing a foothold in the EU and NATO partner country Croatia and gaining access to this highly interesting customer market.”

Europe’s security landscape is changing rapidly

As defence budgets rise and EU programmes expand, civil technology providers are becoming vital contributors to Europe’s strategic autonomy. The event will act as a neutral platform for dialogue between technology suppliers, integrators, and decision-makers shaping the next generation of European defence capabilities and aims to open doors between civil industry and defence procurement, providing practical insights.

Find out more and register

“In Croatia, our competence centre for unmanned and autonomous vehicles for military applications is now being created. Our goal in this new constellation is to achieve a strong market position in the segment of unmanned combat and combat support vehicles. We see a growing future market here and are starting at the ideal time to be successful in the global market with our new products. Ongoing and planned procurement projects in many countries confirm this,” Dr. Björn Bernhard continued.

DOK-ING has a strong market position in the field of unmanned land mine clearance and operations in high-risk environments in both civilian and military sectors. Since its foundation, the company has delivered around 500 platforms to customers in more than 40 countries. Unmanned mine clearance solutions from DOK-ING are currently proving particularly effective in operations in Ukraine.

As early as October 2024, both companies had agreed on a partnership that initially focused on the joint development of an unmanned vehicle for mine clearance as well as mine laying.

The basis for the joint activities is the newly developed modular heavy hybrid platform Komodo from DOK-ING, which has a payload capacity of more than 8.5 tonnes. Rheinmetall contributes various functional modules and equipment packages, including those for direct and indirect fire, mine clearance and mine laying, reconnaissance sensors, logistics, and more.

Dr. Björn Bernhard: “DOK-ING and Rheinmetall are two leading European providers in their respective specialist fields. By joining forces, we can realise demanding projects. Together we want to set new standards and pave the way for unmanned ground systems that are ready for serial production and operational deployment.”

Vjekoslav Majetić, who founded DOK-ING in 1991: “This partnership with Rheinmetall marks the next phase in the development of DOK-ING. Over more than three decades, we have built strong technological competences and established a solid international presence in demanding markets. We have now reached a stage where further value creation and production scaling require a partner with significant industrial capacities, system integration competence and global market access.”

Company profile

Rheinmetall’s Rise To Europe’s Defence Heavyweight

“The development, technical excellence and core competences of DOK-ING will remain in Croatia. By joining forces with Rheinmetall, we are creating the conditions to expand production capacities, accelerate the development of next-generation unmanned special systems and strengthen our long-term competitiveness,” Majetić added. “This strategic step positions DOK-ING for sustainable growth and strengthens Croatia’s role within the European defence and technology landscape.”

In the new constellation, DOK-ING and Rheinmetall plan to develop a wide range of solutions for combat and combat support operations. This includes a project for an unmanned armed support system (known as “Wingman”), which is intended to operate alongside main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles for reconnaissance and fire support missions. These systems will also be deployed together with existing Rheinmetall products such as the main battle tank Panther KF51, the armoured recovery vehicle Büffel (Buffalo), and the armoured engineer vehicle Kodiak.