17/01/2026
“We are entering completely new territory” –
innovations in medical services
At the recent medical service information
training exercise (Informationslehrübung
Sanitätsdienst, ILÜ San 2025), the German
Armed Forces demonstrated the future of
military emergency medicine: drones
transporting the wounded, AI supporting
documentation, and highly mobile rescue
centers that can be operational within 20
minutes. In an interview with Military
Medicine, Surgeon General Dr. Bruno Most
explained the most important medical
innovations.
Thank you very much for this very interesting
training and information exercise (ILÜ). What
were the main focuses for you this year?
I would actually like to highlight two main
focuses. First of all, the tried and tested.
This year, we once again focused on the
classic military rescue chain, from the site
of injury to first aid and self-help and
comrade assistance to our rescue centers and
field hospitals, followed by the transport
back home.
New is that, for the first time, we have
actively incorporated the civil-military
component into the ILÜ as part of the rescue
chain. In recent years, we have always had
partners from aid organizations, but we have
never addressed the question: What happens
with wounded soldiers in alliance defense who
return home? How does redistribution work,
where do we need aid organizations, which
civilian clinics do we need as partners? This
is the first time we have done this.
Another point is that this year we have taken
special care to firmly integrate the topics of
industry, research, and technology. For the
first time, we saw the “Grille” drone being
used to transport patients by flight. In
addition, we saw many other innovations in
this area – unmanned transport of wounded
personnel.
Not even close to the numbers
You brought up the topic of equipment. We’ve
seen some new things this year. The GVTC, the
medium protected casualty transport vehicle,
and I saw the UVT for the first time. How will
this change continue? I am thinking about the
further development of the ghm Role 2 project.
The protected highly mobile component was
mentioned in the training exercise. How do you
see the development?
On the one hand, I am glad that we have
initiated various armament projects for
casualty evacuation vehicles – but of course
we are still far away from the quantities we
actually need in the field. The most
challenging aspect is the medium protected
medical vehicle. The first model was delivered
by the industry during the ILÜ, and now we
have to be patient and hope that the
quantities we need will be available in the
near future. But again, it is important that
we have initiated crucial projects in all
areas of the rescue chain.
You just mentioned the most important medical
service armament project from the perspective
of my command area. I hope that we will sign
the contract for the highly mobile protected
rescue centers this year and then perhaps have
the first prototypes on the yard as early as
2027.
This is a quantum leap in clinical care on the
battlefield: highly mobile, on the spot within
20 minutes, self-sufficient and decoupled,
while still offering a good level of
protection. No other nation in the world has
this. We will be the first to take the support
of mechanized units to a new level. During the
ILÜ, I also made it clear to the industry
that, together with us, they are entering
completely new territory, which will open up
new opportunities.
One last question on the topic of digitization
and healthcare. The role of BWI was briefly
mentioned at one of the stations. Last year,
we saw that patient documentation was still
being diligently recorded during patient
handover. What will this look like in the
future?
Yes, today we had a picture showing the
future, in which the first responder Bravo
made his voice entries using a cell phone.
When digitizing the rescue chain, a crucial
point is that we also develop our staff’s
compliance with this system through simple
handling such as voice entries. I personally
have experienced such developments in the
past, such as DigiPen and similar systems,
which all had the problem that – when
seriously injured comrades need to be cared
for and there is the pressure of ongoing
combat – any written documentation is a burden
for the comrades.
I am certain that voice processing is a real
opportunity to make important data from the
entire rescue chain available on the
battlefield.
Thank you again for this very interesting
exercise.
Great. Yes, it is always a pleasure to be able
to present these insights to so many viewers
alongside my civilian and military comrades.
The interview was conducted by Mr. Rainer
Krug, Editor-in-Chief of CPM Verlag GmbH, as
part of the Medical Service Information and
Training Exercise 2025 (ILÜ San 2025). This
exercise demonstrates the latest developments
and innovations in the German Armed Forces‘
military medical service every year.