The Danish Ministry of Defense has signed what has been described as a “historically large delivery” for the Mercedes G manufactured in Graz, Austria. The first new off-road vehicles should be rolling through the gates of the barracks by the end of 2025. This is made possible by a contract between the Danish Material and Procurement Agency (FMI) and the Danish Mercedes-Benz dealer Ejner Hessel A/S.

“I am very pleased about the signing of this agreement. The current GDs have been in service for almost 40 years and are considered iconic in the Danish defense. This says a lot about the characteristics and longevity of these vehicles. We are now looking forward to the cooperation with Ejner Hessel, which will bring many years of pleasure and benefit to the entire defense, including the Home Guard,” says Lieutenant Colonel Uffe Geckler Pedersen, Head of the Vehicle Department at FMI.

Sales Manager at Ejner Hessel, Steen Hessel, and Lieutenant Colonel at FMI, Uffe Geckler Pedersen, officially sign the contract at FMI in Ballerup -©Ejner Hessel
The Sales Manager at Ejner Hessel, Steen Hessel, and Lieutenant Colonel at FMI, Uffe Geckler Pedersen, officially sign the contract at FMI in Ballerup.

Two contracts were concluded. A procurement framework agreement and a service agreement that ensures the maintenance of the vehicles for up to 28 years. In addition to vehicles, the procurement also includes initial logistics and spare parts, special tools and the training of instructors.

The new vehicles will replace all current GDs and open up new deployment options for motorized surveillance in homeland defence as well as for operational tasks in the armed forces. This means that some of the new vehicles will be equipped with a roof-mounted ring mount for a light machine gun.

For this reason, five different variants of the new Mercedes-Benz G-Class will initially be offered:

  • A basic variant for the army. The majority of the new G-Classes will be delivered to the army, where they will be used both operationally in various units and for training purposes.
  • A variant for the Home Guard with a roof-mounted ring mount for a light machine gun. This variant forms the backbone of the Home Guard’s motorized surveillance units, which are distributed throughout Denmark.
  • A variant for air force task force leaders, for use at Danish airfields.
  • A variant for the military police. This variant is intended to fulfill the traditional tasks of the military police and represents a 1:1 replacement for the worn-out vehicles used by the military police today.
  • A variant for Property and Terrain Command to support shooting ranges and area maintenance.

Test winner Mercedes-G

The Danish Ministry of Defense put the new vehicles through their paces as part of the tender in summer 2024. Representatives from the training and command support regiment as well as volunteers from the Home Guard were involved in testing the vehicles in terms of load capacity, comfort and off-road characteristics, among other things. The Mercedes-G Wagon emerged as the test winner.

There are two prototypes - a basic vehicle with various military equipment, radio equipment, etc. and a more complex G-Class with a so-called ring mount on the roof, i.e. a rotating turret with a machine gun -©Ejner Hessel
There are two prototypes – a basic vehicle with various military equipment, radio equipment etc. and a more complex G-Class with a so-called ring mount on the roof, i.e. a rotating turret with a machine gun.

According to the Danish Ministry of Defense, cooperation with the supplier and the development of the new vehicles is already in full swing. The plan is for Ejner Hessel to deliver the first vehicles to the Property and Terrain Command in the course of 2025.

The development of the first two prototypes, consisting of a basic variant and a variant for home defense with a roof-mounted chassis, will also take place this year. The two prototypes will then undergo extensive testing at the end of 2025. Once they have been approved, series production will begin. The two remaining prototypes, the variant for the military police and the task force for the air force, will then be fully developed.

Delivery of the vehicles is planned from 2026, with 200 to 300 vehicles a year expected by the end of 2029.

The new all-terrain vehicles are being purchased under the auspices of the Acceleration Fund and the GAFF (Foundation for Defense Restoration). At the end of 2023, the government decided to make additional funds available to the defense, including for the purchase of equipment.

Rheinmetall Caracal

The Mercedes G is also the basis for the Caracal airborne vehicle, of which the German and Dutch armies procured a total of almost 3,500 units. have procured.

The Caracal was developed jointly by RheinmetallMercedes-Benz AG and the German company Armored Car Systems GmbH (ACS) and is based on the new Mercedes-Benz Model 464 4×4 G-series military off-road vehicle.

In its basic version with a short wheelbase (4.35 m long), the Caracal is compact enough to transport two vehicles in the cargo hold of a CH-53K King Stallion or CH-47F Chinook helicopter.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR