Test in battle: Germany accepted Ukrainian order for new anti-aircraft guns

Alexander Sychev

To do this, the company, backed by the federal government, resorted to a little trick previously used by gunsmiths in other countries - Taiwan, for example, and also rumored to be Israel and so on. The Germans sold their two units, worth 182 million euros each, to an unnamed “foreign customer” with delivery in early 2024. The newspaper Handelsblatt managed to find out that the recipient is Kiev.

On the one hand, Berlin demonstrates an active participation in the hostilities in Ukraine. On the other hand, before the indicated delivery date, everything can “dissolve”: nothing will need to be shipped, and the money has already been received. Thirdly, the two systems are unlikely to play a significant role, but the German company can gain experience in combat use.

For the first time, Rheinmetall demonstrated a video of Skynex operation last year. The central place in the system is occupied by the Oerlikon Skymaster control unit, equipped with liquid crystal screens for viewing the airspace. Tracking and defeating targets are performed automatically, thanks to the built-in fire control processor. The system can be controlled remotely.

The control unit can be connected to the Oerlikon X-TAR3D Tactical 3D tactical radar operating in the X-band. It provides data on the air situation: performs search, detection, capture, tracking and identification of air targets. At the same time, he monitors the threats that arise for the fire control system itself.

German designers have tried to create an extremely flexible system. It can integrate radar equipment from various manufacturers, not just the Swiss company Oerlikon Contraves, owned by Rheinmetall, as well as various anti-aircraft weapons manufactured by NATO countries.

In the original version, the 35-millimeter Oerlikon GDF009 TREO gun, the Oerlikon laser gun or the new Denel Cheetah C-RAM rocket, which was created to destroy incoming enemy missiles, artillery shells and mines, are offered as means of firing. Denel Cheetah are placed in transport and launch pallets of four pieces each.

But Ukraine is supposed to transfer a variant armed with a cannon. The 35-mm anti-aircraft gun used in the system has a maximum effective range of 4,000 meters, and the rate of fire reaches a thousand rounds per minute. Due to this rate of fire, the gun is able to create a high density of fire, and the radar allows you to narrow the firing zone to the limit. During tests at the enterprise, the gun even destroyed a swarm of eight small drones.

It is not known whether Ahead programmable projectiles, developed by Rheinmetall to more effectively hit targets, primarily cruise missiles and a swarm of drones, will come with it. But the projectile turned out to be very successful.

The standard fire mount consists of two twin-gun platforms with one fire control radar. Skynex is an all-weather air defense system and operates at low and medium altitudes up to 3 thousand meters. The entire system can be mounted on trucks or can be towed.