Bundeswehr re-establishes AD capabilities

With the experiences of the Ukraine War in mind, Bundeswehr brass decided to re-build the Air Defense capabilities. For a start, we will procure 19(!) GTK Boxer with Skyranger 30 turret.

10 Likes

Good start. The US needs to do similar and buy the Bradley M-SHORAD w/30mm gun and Stinger missile combo.


1 Like

Amateur opinion: vehicles should carry automatic 20 mm shotguns for close in defense.

1 Like

Hopefully the 30mm autocannon airbursting shells substitute in destruction capability for the 30mm Gatling gun.

It’s somewhat proven that against drone swarms and rotorcraft, a Gatling gun is the better choice because it brackets a target with shells compared to point-target shooting with an autocannon.

3 Likes

Among the Skyranger system, we also use MANTIS stationary guns (Feldlagerschutz System). in the future we will also procure IRIS-T SLM and Arrow missile system from Israel.


.

2 Likes
2 Likes

Nasty little spitfires, aren´t they?

1 Like

Oh yeah… Talk about a very effective flyswatter.

1 Like

We have a fairy tale here, called “Das tapfere Schneiderlein” or “The brave tailor”. In this tale he swats 7 flies that sit on marmelade bread. This gun even gets 8 “flies” with one strike.

3 Likes

I read that novel when i was a kid “Brave Little Tailor” from the Brother’s Grimm…

A classic. :smiley:

2 Likes

I know that one, he made a belt about it and became king!!!

On the topic, Gepards are loved by Ukrainian crews. Maybe all these failed DIVAD projects were not so useless after all.

1 Like

Yeah! The Gepard has been a very effective piece of ADA for Ukraine… Wonder how many does Germany still have that could be freshened up and put back in service to supplement the Skyranger and MANTIS systems?

2 Likes

Nice that the drones were all flying together in an nice little group but not realistic.

3 Likes

A realistic scenario wouldn’t look so good in a marketing video …
:wink: :grin:

2 Likes

Useless or not depends on the expected scenario.
“Nobody” predicted attack drones 25 years ago.
Many soldiers on the battlefields in Ukraine would have better
chances for survival if they had sawn off shotguns.
Limited usefulness for most other situations but drones are a
new threat …

Cross country skis are rather useless during the summer
but can be very useful in the winter when there is deep snow.

3 Likes

Wonder if the Dragoon Stryker could handle a Skyranger gun?

1 Like

Who would have thought that the Yak-52, designed in 1976, would play an important role today.

Soldier in the rear seat uses rifle to shoot down slow drones.

The airborne threat for soldiers, day or night …

1 Like

Why does this remind me of early WWI before the use of syncronized machine guns? It´s all coming back after 100+ years. :slightly_smiling_face:
Next they use their wingtips to tip the drones from course, like in the Battle of Britain?

2 Likes

Skyranger turret weight 2300 kg fully loaded.
https://www.rheinmetall.com/Rheinmetall%20Group/brochure-download/Air-Defence/D994e0222-Oerlikon-Skyranger-30.pdf

1 Like

Yikes! Okay… Nevermind. :astonished:

1 Like