IDV has unveiled the latest generation of its British-built VIKING uncrewed ground vehicle in electronic warfare and precision-effects configurations, with the upgraded platform gaining an electric-only range of up to 30km.
The two variants were shown at DVD 2026 at Millbrook, demonstrating how the same vehicle architecture can carry significantly different payloads. One VIKING was equipped with precision effectors, while another carried Leonardo’s Guardian Vantage electronic warfare and signals intelligence system. The latest version of VIKING has been designed to improve range, usability and autonomous operation. Its electric-only range has been extended to as much as 30km, allowing the vehicle to move with a reduced acoustic and thermal signature.
The platform can be transported internally by Chinook helicopter or carried as an underslung load, and can also move under its own power or be towed.
Geoff Davis, Managing Director of IDV UK, said: “As demand for uncrewed capabilities accelerates across NATO, platforms such as VIKING are becoming an essential element of modern land operations.”
He added: “VIKING embodies this approach, offering a flexible and scalable platform that can be configured for a wide range of roles, from ISTAR, electronic warfare, counter-UAS and precision effects to logistics and casualty evacuation.”
The electronic warfare configuration pairs VIKING with Leonardo’s Guardian Vantage system, while a portable Guardian Shield unit can be carried aboard the vehicle and left in position separately. The systems are designed to passively detect transmissions, identify emitters and determine their direction before, when required, moving to active jamming.
IDV said the uncrewed vehicle could therefore carry out what it described as a “jam and scoot” role, operating away from the troops it is supporting, transmitting when required and then moving before the position can be targeted.
The VIKING’s series-hybrid powertrain is particularly relevant to that role. The electronic warfare payload can run from the vehicle’s battery while the engine is switched off, reducing both its thermal and acoustic signature while it listens passively. IDV argues that power generation is becoming an important distinction between different classes of uncrewed ground vehicle, particularly as increasingly demanding sensors, electronic warfare systems and other payloads are fitted to them.
Guardian Vantage and Guardian Shield are designed in the UK and manufactured at Leonardo’s Basildon plant. IDV said both use components and software supplied by British small and medium-sized companies and carry no US International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrictions.
VIKING itself is developed and built at IDV UK’s facility at MIRA Technology Park in Nuneaton, using a British supply chain. The company says the vehicle has undergone more than a decade of trials with armed forces in Britain, Europe and the United States, with initial orders now placed by allied armies. The vehicle’s modular architecture is intended to allow different mission systems to be fitted to the same basic platform, with IDV listing possible roles including reconnaissance, electronic warfare, counter-drone operations, precision effects, logistics and casualty evacuation.
IDV also displayed its MUV Military Utility Vehicle in an ambulance configuration and an 8×8 protected logistics vehicle from its Modular Military Range, but the upgraded VIKING represented the company’s clearest move towards higher-end autonomous battlefield roles.
