A Boxer Skyranger 30 air defence system manufactured by the German defence company Rheinmetall is displayed on the grounds of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) during the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) on June 06 , 2024, at Brandenburg, Schoenefeld | File Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Berlin: The German Armed Forces are planning to place a large order for the Skyranger air defence turret system from Rheinmetall in order to strengthen their drone defence capabilities, reports said on Friday.
The Handelsblatt newspaper, citing sources within the Defence Ministry and people familiar with the industrial sector, reported that more than 600 defence systems are to be ordered from the Dusseldorf-based defence contractor this year.
The order value, including associated vehicles, is estimated at more than €9 billion ($10.4 billion).
A spokesman for the Defence Ministry in Berlin did not confirm any figures, but said that negotiations were ongoing. He said a prototype of the Skyranger system is currently in the testing phase, which is due to continue until the end of the year, and that 19 systems have already been ordered.
“If this system proves itself in testing, we will need a three-digit number of additional vehicles,” the spokesman said.
A Rheinmetall spokesman said the company was preparing for a significant increase in production and aimed to produce “at least 200 units per year.”
Skyranger is a mobile air defence system, and its turret and cannon can be mounted on various vehicles, such as the Boxer wheeled armoured vehicles used by the German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr.
It can also be deployed on a tracked armoured vehicle such as the Leopard 1 tank.
The British Army intends to use Skyranger to close a capability gap following the decommissioning of the Gepard anti-aircraft tank. The system can fire fragmentation ammunition at a high rate, enabling it to repel swarm attacks by drones.
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