Meander was developed by Excalibur Army, part of CSG, together with New Space Technologies (NST), a member of the Krill Business Partners (KBP) group. CSG believes the vehicle has strong commercial potential, as there are very few versatile amphibious vehicles on the market.
Excalibur Army says armed forces have little to choose from in this category, and that equipment decades old is still in service. Meander is meant to let troops cross watercourses and marshy ground without having to build pontoon or engineer bridges first.
“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,” said Adam Liška, CEO of Excalibur Army.
“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,” Liška added.
The vehicle shown in Prague was the basic transport version, built to carry materiel, vehicles, ground equipment or personnel. CSG says the design can be adapted for other roles, including specialised and combat versions armed with weapon systems.
The company calls Meander one of the most modern and capable vehicles in its class. It is designed to work on land and water alike, including in swamps, rivers and wetlands.
Meander is more than eleven metres long and weighs up to 33 tonnes fully loaded, of which 13 tonnes is payload. A twelve-cylinder, air-cooled Tatra engine producing 440 kW gives it a top speed of 48 kilometres per hour on the road and around 12 kilometres per hour in the water.
The flat cargo deck has room for up to 70 standing troops, 12 stretchers, a medium-sized military truck or a standard twenty-foot container. An electrically operated rear ramp, which can also bear 13 tonnes, makes loading easier.
On land the vehicle runs on tracks, while in the water it is driven by propellers. It needs a crew of two, a driver and an operator, with a third crew member added when required.
Perhaps its most unusual feature is that the driver steers with a wheel and pedals, like an ordinary car, whether on land or in the water. CSG says the electronic steer-by-wire system makes it very precise and comfortable to handle, and the crew also gets a touchscreen showing vehicle data and a camera system with a very good view all around.
Meander is based on KALAN, a vehicle NST unveiled earlier and which Czech firefighters are now testing. Excalibur Army and NST put their partnership on paper with a memorandum signed at Eurosatory 2026, and the first prototype was ready just a few months later.
Excalibur Army is in charge of the military, operational and user requirements. NST is responsible for the technical, design and production work, 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,” said Václav Zajíc, executive director of NST.
“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,” Zajíc said.
