New technologies allow increasingly better defense against drones, but defending against swarm attacks is a particular challenge for air defense, since individual fire control reaches its limits when it has to engage more than a handful of targets at the same time.
This challenge is increasing because the threat posed by small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is currently increasing rapidly. Small drones are increasingly being used by the military and the police, but also by civilian customers. Due to their size, low flight speed and low altitude, they are often difficult to detect. These unmanned aerial systems are comparatively cheap and can be used inexpensively by irregular forces. Even when aggressive drones are spotted, systems that are sufficiently effective to neutralize them are not available.
In the case of threats from the air, these systems are assigned to the short and close range. In this area, drones have created a capability gap in the protection of mobile forces. The qualified anti-aircraft defense system, which is currently being procured in Germany, with the 40mm airburst ammunition of its grenade launcher weapon can only work insufficiently against UAS at short range, especially not if they are armed in a stand-off manner (like the Chinese Harwar Zhanfu H16-V12) .
Bei einem Pressegespräch in Bonn hat Rheinmetall erläutert, was der Boxer Skyranger mit 35mm-Kanone zur Schließung der Fähigkeitslücke beitragen kann. Zur Zielaufklärung verfügt der Skyranger über ein Suchradar, das mit elektrooptischen Sensoren ergänzt wird. Der Sensormix ermöglicht die zuverlässige Entdeckung und Identifizierung gegnerischer unbemannter Luftsysteme als Voraussetzung für die Zielverfolgung und letztlich die Bekämpfung. Die Airburst-Munition der 35mm-Kanone erzeugt mit einer Salve von 12 Schuss mit ihren Subprojektilen einen großen Luftraum mit Subprojektilen, die die Systeme zuverlässig zum Absturz bringen. Munition für insgesamt 20 Salven hat der bereits 2018 öffentlich vorgestellte Skyranger an Bord. Kanone und Radar sind allwetterfähig für einen permanenten 360-Grad-Schutz.
Integrated into the ground-based air defense, the Boxer Skyranger could supplement the sensor and effector mix in a capability gap and make an important contribution to mobile space protection.
Gerhard Heiming
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