Today at the Future Forces Forum 2026 exhibition in Prague, CSG group unveiled Meander, a new tracked amphibious vehicle. Meander was developed jointly by Excalibur Army, part of CSG, and New Space Technologies (NST), a member of the Krill Business Partners (KBP) group. Meander adds a unique vehicle with a wide range of applications to CSG’s land military vehicles portfolio. These range from transporting personnel and materiel and carrying military vehicles to specialised and combat variants.
Meander is designed to operate on land and water, including in difficult terrain such as swamps, rivers and wetlands. At Future Forces Forum 2026 it was presented in its basic transport variant, which carries materiel, vehicles, ground equipment or personnel. The design also allows further variants and configurations, including combat versions carrying weapon systems. Meander is one of the most modern and capable vehicles in its category. It also has strong commercial potential, because very few vehicles are available in the versatile amphibious vehicle segment.
“In many situations, armed forces need vehicles that can carry troops, materiel or smaller vehicles across watercourses or marshy terrain without having to build pontoon or engineer bridges. That is why we designed Meander from the outset around the real requirements of military users. For CSG, Meander is a significant expansion of our land military equipment offering in a segment where choice is very limited and where equipment that is decades old is still in service. Meander’s design also allows us to offer specialised versions or variants capable of carrying weapon systems,” said Adam Liška, CEO of Excalibur Army.
Meander is based on the KALAN vehicle, which NST unveiled earlier and which Czech firefighters are currently testing. Excalibur Army and NST formalised their cooperation on Meander with a memorandum signed at Eurosatory 2026.
Just a few months later, the first prototype was presented at Future Forces Forum 2026. Excalibur Army is responsible for the military, operational and user requirements. NST handles the technical, design and production development, including the first prototype.
“In designing Meander, we drew on our experience from developing the KALAN vehicle, which Czech firefighters are now trialling. As a result, Meander has a different propulsion system for movement on water, among other improvements suited to military use. Combining our design capabilities with Excalibur Army’s experience shows that Czech industry can offer a vehicle with world-class performance for demanding military operations. Moreover, it has virtually no competition in its category,” said Václav Zajíc, executive director of NST.
Kalan vehicle during swim test (photo: NST)
The vehicle is more than eleven metres long and has a gross weight of up to 33 tonnes, of which 13 tonnes is payload. It is powered by a twelve-cylinder air-cooled Tatra engine rated at 440 kW. The engine gives Meander a top road speed of 48 kilometres per hour and a speed of around 12 kilometres per hour on water. Its flat cargo deck can take up to 70 standing troops, 12 stretchers, a medium-sized military truck or a standard twenty-foot container. Loading is made easier by an electrically operated rear ramp, which can also carry 13 tonnes.
CSG Meander amphibious vehicle is bit bigger than Soviet's PTSM with max 28 tonnes with 10 tonnes payload (infographic: Avioen Defense Watch)
The crew consists of a driver and an operator, with a third crew member if required. Meander runs on tracks and uses propellers to move through water. Interestingly, the driver still controls it on land and on water with a steering wheel and pedals, much like an ordinary car. The steering is an electronic steer-by-wire system, which makes the vehicle very precise and comfortable to handle. The crew also has a touchscreen display showing vehicle data and a camera system that gives a very good view of the vehicle’s surroundings.
(CSG)
