Handelsblatt: Germany to order 600 Skyranger mobile air defense systems for more than 9 billion euros

The German government plans to order more than 600 Skyranger short-range mobile air defense systems for more than €9 billion from the Rheinmetall engineering and defense concern by the end of 2025. About writes Handelsblatt with reference to informed sources.

It is a Skyranger on the Boxer chassis, manufactured jointly with the French-German arms company KNDS. They are scheduled to be delivered by 2030.

The decision is related to the growing threat of drone attacks, both military and sabotage. Recently, airports in Germany, Denmark, and Norway had to temporarily shut down operations due to unidentified drone flights.

In Germany, according to official estimates, the system of mass detection and repulsion of small UAVs has not yet been sufficiently deployed.

The Skyranger is a German mobile short-range air defense system that combines radar, optical sensors, and an automatic cannon, and is capable of detecting and destroying drones at a distance of up to ten kilometers.

In an interview with the publication, defense expert Jakob Parakilas says that modern warfare is increasingly based on massive and relatively cheap drones. The example of Ukraine shows how quickly tactics and equipment are changing-and how important it is to have flexible defense systems.

The procurement of new anti-aircraft vehicles is accompanied by plans to massively deploy additional detection equipment (radar, optics, acoustics) and data integration using artificial intelligence.

• German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall will provide Ukraine with additional Skyranger 35 short-range air defense systems based on the Leopard 1 tank.