Rheinmetall Air Defence, the Swiss subsidiary of European defence contractor Rheinmetall Group based in Germany, has won an order for an additional Fieldguard 3 military measurement system from a Brazilian defence contractor.

Fieldguard is an active fire control system that features special sensors that allow the system to measure the trajectory of projectiles, ensuring maximum precision when engaging targets. The measurement system can cover ranges of up to 100km.

The Brazilian customer intends to expand capacity by adding two more Fieldguard systems. Rheinmetall will serve as a subcontractor to Brazil’s Avibras, the general contractor under an existing framework agreement.

The new order was placed in March 2019 and is worth an estimated several million euros.

In 2012, the Brazilian customer took up the expansion programme in partnership with Avibras for the Astros 2020 multiple rocket launcher system.



Rheinmetall’s cooperation with Avibras has been welcomed as an example of effective international defence cooperation.

Both companies see growth potential for the system in customer countries, especially in Asia.

In May 2019, Rheinmetall’s subsidiary Pierburg, based in Neuss, Germany, won an order worth more than €90m for its UpValve variable valve control system and production at the Neuss plant will commence in 2019.

Series production of the corresponding vehicles will begin in 2020. Several Chinese automobile brands will use UpValve, and the new control system can achieve fuel savings of up to 5%.

The new system will be installed in a four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine that is co-designed with the Pierburg engineers at Neuss, who later became the development partners for the entire valve control system, which includes actuators and electronic peripherals.

“Trials on the engine have been carried out with manufacturers inside and outside Germany.”

Pierburg designed an optimised system called UpValve on the basis of the existing UniValve and integrated it into the newly developed engines.

UpValve offers enhanced speed stability, footprint and dynamics. It also allows the cylinder to be switched off as required, making additional fuel savings possible.

As the UpValve is installed on the intake side of the engine, it enables a reduction in losses during intake / exhaust switchover. The engine also features improved dynamics in addition to offering fuel consumption savings.

Trials on the engine have been carried out with manufacturers inside and outside of Germany.

Rheinmetall’s advanced technologies enable automakers to boost the efficiency of internal combustion engines while reducing emissions.