German sd.kfz.302    1/16

Even before World War II, Adolphe Kégresse's office developed a small, remote-controlled destruction vehicle, the Vehicule K. The French army had ordered 6,000 of these before World War II. The prototype was sunk in the Seine during the German invasion. It was found and recovered by the Germans. The Heereswaffenamt (Army Weapons Office) examined the vehicle and commissioned Carl Borgward to design a similar vehicle. Borgward had completed the initial design by the end of 1940.

In April 1942, the Borgward company began producing the Goliath. From April 1943, both Zündapp and Zachertz began producing the mobile mines. Borgward and Zündapp produced 2,650 units by September 1944. The Goliath was designed to carry 50 kg of explosives, but in reality, it carried 60 kg.[citation needed] It was connected to a remote control via a three-wire cable; this cable had a maximum length of 650 meters.[citation needed] The vehicle was powered by two 2.5 kW Bosch electric motors. Its maximum speed was 10 km/h. Due to the limited capacity of the batteries, the range was a maximum of 1.5 km on road and 0.8 km over rough terrain. The total weight was 430 kg.

The price of a single unit was 3,000 Reichsmarks. This cost was high, while a successful attack would destroy the entire vehicle and relatively often fail to reach its target. Therefore, it was decided to equip the 'Goliath' with a cheaper gasoline engine.

Production ceased in January 1944. A total of 2,635 units of this version were produced.