The Federal Police is putting ten new special Unimog into service.

The riot police of the German Federal Police are faced with challenging missions where barricades and difficult terrain have to be overcome. With the new Unimog U 530, the units are now ideally equipped for these tasks. Police Commissioner Marco Seidl explains how the specially equipped vehicles, including a powerful front loader and multi-functional crane, make the job easier.

If the riot police of the Federal Police are alerted, the men and women may well face a challenging operational scenario. “We often have to deal with barricades and barriers that are supposed to make our operations more difficult,” says police commissioner Marco Seidl (37).

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And whenever, for example, barricades have to be cleared so that the Federal Police can get to the scene, robust special vehicles are used in Germany. But logistical tasks, such as transporting and installing police equipment, are also becoming ever more complex and must be managed by the specialists with their equipment.

The perfect addition to the fleet.

There are ten riot police departments in this country. Between 600 and 800 men and women work there. And each of these departments has a very special Unimog in its fleet – and since this year, each has a brand new one.

We often have to deal with barricades and barriers that are supposed to make our operations more difficult.

Marco Seidl, specialist coordinator of the ARMAS department, German Federal Police

“In 2024, we will be putting the new U 530 into operation across the board. These ten vehicles are identical in design and are produced exclusively for our needs,” explains Marco Seidl. MarcoSeidl is the specialist coordinator of the ARMAS department, which deals with precisely these special operations. Internally, ARMAS stands for the work machines of the specialist group for technical measures for barriers/clearing/use of special vehicles.

Five of the ten riot police departments have an ARMAS unit. The specialist coordinating office is based in Deggendorf, from where Marco Seidl and his deputy, police commissioner Maximilian Ganser, coordinated the new procurement with five other colleagues.

Always properly equipped.

All Unimog are equipped with a Hauer front loader, which can also be equipped with a pallet fork. “The practical thing now is that we can dismantle it in just a few minutes when it’s not needed. The axle load on the new U 530 is designed in such a way that we do not need a counterweight to the Palfinger crane (PK 18502 SH) mounted at the rear.”

The crane can be extended up to 12.40 metres and lift 1,180 kg. In addition, this crane is equipped with a cable winch and a multi-functional gripper. "For example, we can supply emergency equipment or transport our tree climbers to clear tree house camps in a man basket that is attached to the crane hook."

However, the front loader is important. This is because officers often have to level or pave field or forest paths so that colleagues moving behind can continue in difficult terrain. The centrally installed drum cable winch from HPC (65 m steel cable) has a tensile force of five tonnes – with a guide pulley even ten tonnes can be applied. To improve stability, a recovery support specially adapted to the cable winch is mounted at the rear. New: all vehicles are equipped with Lexan glazing, a plastic glazing that is extremely robust (“impact-resistant”) and protects the officers from stone throwers and other impacts.

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From green to cobalt blue.

It goes without saying that the Unimog painted in cobalt blue (RAL 5013) are equipped with a Hänsch special signalling system as standard. Another new feature is that the new U 530 no longer has a crew cab. “The previous fleet was equipped with a five-man crew cab. However, because we need the largest possible loading area to be able to carry emergency equipment on up to three pallets or perform logistical tasks, we have dispensed with the large cab,” says police commissioner Marco Seidl. The ten green-painted predecessors of the U 2150 L from 1996 are currently being phased out. True Unimog enthusiasts can hardly wait to bid for them.

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