COMPANY:
Rheinmetall Defence Australia

Defence Vehicle Shelters: Rheinmetall’s Rapid Deployment Workshop

Rheinmetall Defence Australia needed better field workshops. Giant Inflatables Industrial designed a custom defence vehicle shelter to enhance mobile maintenance capabilities.

Back Ground

COMPANY:
Rheinmetall Defence Australia

LOCATION:
Australia

Rheinmetall Defence Australia operates from its Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Redbank, Queensland. It designs, builds, and maintains combat and logistics vehicles, including Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles and HX Tactical Trucks. For field operations, an improved mobile maintenance system was required.

Challenge

Rheinmetall needed a field workshop for vehicle maintenance that could be rapidly deployed and self-contained. The existing workshop shelter system was complicated to deploy, took a long time to set up, and Rheinmetall could not always rely on its availability.

The new portable vehicle shelters needed to be compact for transport, and a small team had to deploy and set up the workshop quickly. The new Defence Vehicle Shelters had to function in extreme weather conditions.

Rheinmetall planned to use the system for military operations like Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.

Design and Fabrication

Giant Inflatables Industrial based the design on the proven inflatable portable workshop. However, Rheinmetall’s requirements led to significant design alterations to accommodate extreme conditions.

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

Internal area: 11m long, 7m wide, 6m high

Door clearance: Minimum 5m

Wind resilience: Up to 80km/h

Climate suitability: Extreme hot and cold conditions

Giant Inflatables Industrial worked with Tensys, its structural engineering partners, who used a Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Various key point Indicator tests were conducted to ensure the structure maintained its integrity under load and wind.

The final design featured:

A custom structural profile: for strength at a lower height.

Streamlined 48V LED lighting: for quick setup.

A protective skin with thermal properties: for temperature control.

Enhanced anchoring: for increased stability and faster erection.

The project produced tailored inflatable Defence Vehicle Shelters.

They were light, quick to set up, and strong.

Results

Rheinmetall will introduce the inflatable mobile workshop during Talisman Sabre 2025, Australia’s largest joint military exercise. It will also have a suitable, independent defence vehicle maintenance system, increasing its supply speed and readiness for operations.

This outcome reinforces RDA’s position as a top supplier to the Australian Defence Force.