Clearing barricades, leveling paths

When the Federal Police's riot police are called out, the men and women can face a demanding operational scenario. "We often have to deal with barricades and barriers that are intended to make our operations more difficult," says Police Commissioner Marco Seidl (37).

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.

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.

"In 2024 we will be putting the new Unimog U 530 into service across the board. These ten vehicles are identical and produced exclusively for our needs," explains Marco Seidl. Marco Seidl is the specialist coordinator of the ARMAS department, which deals with precisely such special operations. Internally, ARMAS stands for the work machines of the specialist group for technical measures – cordoning off / clearing / deployment of special vehicles.

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

All Unimogs are equipped with a Hauer front loader (1.8 t lifting capacity), which can also be fitted with a pallet fork. "The practical thing now is that we can dismantle it in just a few minutes when it is not needed. The axle load on the new Unimog U 530 is designed so that we do not need a counterweight for the Palfinger crane (PK 18502 SH) mounted at the rear."

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

However, the front loader is important. This is because officers often need to grade or reinforce field or forest tracks so that colleagues following behind can make progress in difficult terrain. The centrally mounted drum winch from HPC (65 m steel rope) has a pulling force of 5 t – with a pulley it can even deliver 10 t.

For better stability, a recovery support specially matched to the winch is mounted at the rear. New: All vehicles are fitted with so-called Lexan glazing, i.e. a plastic glazing that is extremely tough ("impact-resistant") and protects the officers from stone-throwers and other impacts.

Of course, the Unimog painted in cobalt blue (RAL 5013) come standard with a Hänsch special warning system. Also new is that the new Unimog U 530 are now available only with a double cab. "The predecessor fleet was fitted with a five-man double cab. However, because we need the largest possible load area to carry operational equipment on up to three pallets or to perform logistical tasks, we decided to forgo the larger cab," reports Police Commissioner Marco Seidl. The ten green-painted predecessors of the U 2150 L model from 1996 are currently being retired. True Unimog enthusiasts can hardly wait to submit their bids for them.