Bemannt

Bemannt is a German adjective meaning manned or crewed. It is used to describe vehicles, installations, or missions that require human operators on board, in contrast with unbemannt (unmanned) or autonomous systems. The related verb bemannen means to man or crew a vessel or installation.

Etymologyally, bemannt derives from Mann (man) with the prefix be-, a common formation in German to indicate staffing or provision. The term has longstanding use in technical and military vocabulary and is widespread in aviation, maritime, and space contexts, among others.

Usage and examples vary by domain. In aviation, bemanntes Flugzeug refers to a crewed aircraft; in space exploration, bemanntes Raumfahrzeug denotes a crewed spacecraft; in naval contexts, bemanntes Schiff or bemanntes U-Boot indicates ships that carry a crew. In rail, industrial, or other transport sectors, bemannte Systeme describe equipment or lines operated by people on site. As technology advances, many new systems are described as unbemannt or unmanned, but bemannt remains common in regulatory language, historical accounts, and descriptive writing to distinguish crewed operations from autonomous ones.

See also terms frequently used in contrast or related to bemannt include unbemannt (unmanned), unbemannte Systeme, and crewing concepts in various industries. While the English equivalents are usually manned or crewed, bemannt serves as the standard German designation for human-operated systems.