Rheinmetall delivered a verification model of the Boxer Skyranger 30 cannon-based air defence vehicle to the Bundeswehr at the end of January 2025, the company reported on 5 February 2025.
The vehicle will be used to secure the Bundeswehr’s required approval and then, after the user has been instructed in how to operate the vehicle, admission trials will begin in the spring of 2025.
Serial deliveries will mainly take place in 2027 and early 2028.
At the end of February 2024 the Bundeswehr commissioned Rheinmetall to develop and deliver one verification model and 18 series-production Skyranger 30 cannon-based air defence systems based on the Boxer 8×8 multirole armoured vehicle.
The Skyranger 30 air defence system “closes the current critical capability gap in mobile air defence”, according to Rheinmetall, which says the system “offers an optimal combination of mobility, protection, flexibility and precision to meet the growing requirements of challenging threat scenarios at nearer and very close ranges”.
As a hybrid solution, its turret combines a 30 mm KCE revolver cannon, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and the necessary sensors on a single platform. In Germany, the Skyranger 30 will initially be equipped with the Stinger SAM, but could subsequently be converted to carry a specialised counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) missile. Meanwhile, the 30 mm cannon’s ability to fire AHEAD programmable airburst ammunition makes the system particularly suitable for the C-UAV mission.
The Skyranger 30 is part of the European Sky Shield initiative. Additional NATO and EU member states have either already joined the initiative or expressed a wish to do. In December 2023 Hungary contracted with Rheinmetall to carry out the conceptual development of the Skyranger 30 turret for the future air defence variant of the Lynx KF41 tracked vehicle. In the meantime, Austria and Denmark have also ordered the Skyranger 30 on different vehicle platforms. Other EU and NATO states have likewise expressed interest. At the end of January 2025 the Dutch Ministry of Defence announced that the Netherlands will also procure 22 Skyranger 30 systems. The contract is likely to be finalised before the end of 2025.
