During the 29th edition of Eurosatory 2026, the international defense industry trade show organized by Coges Events and taking place June 15-19 of this year in Paris-Nord Villepinte near Paris, German company KNDS Deutschland (part of the French-German joint venture KNDS) presented the MARS 3 (Medium Artillery Rocket System) multiple rocket launcher, developed jointly with Israeli company Elbit Systems as EuroPULS (European Precise & Universal Launching System).
Photos: Jakub Link-Lenczowski, MILMAG
The MARS 3, mounted on an Iveco Trakker FSA 8×8 heavy truck chassis, measures 10.35 m in length, 2.55 m in width, and 3.83 m in height, with a combat weight of 38 t. Powered by a 500 hp (368 kW) diesel engine, it reaches a road speed of 90 km/h, enabling a driving range of over 750 km. The two- or three-person crew is accommodated in an armored cab.
On March 27 of this year, KNDS Deutschland and Elbit Systems agreed to establish the EuroPULS GmbH joint venture to bring a next-generation rocket artillery system to market. Earlier at the beginning of that month, reports had emerged that the Bundeswehr was planning to order approximately 500 MARS 3 launchers, half for its own needs and the rest for interested nations such as Bulgaria.
Previously, under an intergovernmental agreement between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Israel (which ordered 20 launchers), Germany, as a partner, ordered on February 5, 2025, for 57 million USD the first five MARS 3 launchers, which will be adapted to the various ammunition types required by Berlin; delivery and qualification are planned for 2027. Germany is interested in guided ammunition with ranges of up to 150 and 300 km, scatterable minefield ammunition at ranges exceeding 100 km, and in the medium- to long-term, the procurement of rockets or cruise missiles with a range of 500 km would likely be possible.
However, little is known on this subject. For example, MBDA Deutschland has been developing the JFS-M (Joint Fire Support-Missile) cruise missile of that range for five years. Potential alternative solutions already exist: the Saab RBS-15 and Kongsberg NSM (Naval Strike Missile), both of which have been mentioned several times as potential effectors for the MARS 3. The former was even test-fired on May 21, 2025.
On December 2, 2022, Elbit Systems and the then-named Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), now KNDS Deutschland, established cooperation to develop a EuroPULS variant to be offered under the E-COLORSS (European COmmon LOng Range indirect Fire Support System) program as a successor to European M270 MLRS launchers. Subsequently, on September 14, 2023, a Teaming Agreement was signed.
Competition for EuroPULS came from the GMARS (Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System) launcher, developed by Rheinmetall AG in cooperation with Lockheed Martin.
Meanwhile, Elbit Systems has received orders for baseline PULS systems from the defense ministries of Denmark (8 launchers ordered on March 2, 2023, the first 2 of which were delivered on August 3, 2023), an initially undisclosed customer on July 18, 2023, Spain (16 launchers ordered in October 2023, though the government terminated the contract in September 2025 as part of a broader embargo on Israeli armaments), a second undisclosed customer on August 6, 2024, a third undisclosed customer on November 18, 2024, Peru on July 8, 2025 (undisclosed quantity), a fourth undisclosed customer on August 13, 2025 (later revealed to be Serbia), while Greece announced a purchase on December 16, 2025, finalized on April 6 of this year (36 launchers). Earlier this year it emerged that India had also become an operator of the system, where it received the designation SuryAstra.