Saab unveils new low-cost C-UAS missile called Nimbrix

Saab has developed a new lightweight, low-cost, fire-and-forget missile called the Nimbrix focused on the counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) mission.

Addressing select journalists during an online briefing on 27 August 2025, Mats-Olof Rydberg, head of Saab’s Ground based Air Defence product unit, said the Nimbrix is designed to bridge the gap between close-in, gun-based C-UAS effectors, such as Saab’s Trackfire remote weapon station (RWS), and heavier very-short-range air defence (VSHORAD) missiles such as the Saab RBS 70 NG, which has an effective range out to 9 km. The Nimbrix is thus designed to have an optimal range envelope of 2-5 km.

“We’re trying to find the sweet spot here between using a gun system and … if you want to counter drones a little bit outside of that range, not using a full-scale VSHORAD missile or a SHORAD missile,” said Rydberg.

Development of the Nimbrix, which is less than 1 m long and weighs just under 3 kg, began in earnest in June 2024 and since then there have been at least five test firings, said Rydberg. Those test firings were all at the shorter end of the Nimbrix’s envisioned engagement envelope, with Rydberg noting that longer-range engagements would require a different rocket motor than the one currently used or a booster rocket.

The missile, which has a blast/fragmentation warhead with a proximity fuze and is designed to be able to address manoeuvring targets, currently features an infra-red (IR) seeker, although Rydberg mentioned that, depending on customer requirements, a radio-frequency seeker could be introduced in future. The missile is currently developed to the point of “closing up to” technology readiness (TRL) level 6 (equating to demonstration of a prototype in a relevant environment). Rydberg thus noted that Saab is “ready to take the missile to the market now”, although spiral development of the system would continue. He added that Saab believes that customers could theoretically receive the first Nimbrix missiles in 2026.

Rydberg acknowledged that a key driver in the continued development of the Nimbrix is keeping costs down and minimising its cost-per-kill ratio compared to heavier, more expensive missiles like the RBS 70 NG, so Saab is therefore making as much use as possible of low-cost commercial and military off-the-shelf components as well as rapid additive manufacturing.

“We have taken another approach to this when it comes to working with suppliers and partners, aiming to keep the cost at an extremely low level,” said Rydberg. He declined to be drawn on how low the unit cost of a Nimbrix could go, but emphasised that “cost per kill is really extremely important”, adding that Nimbrix “will not be a product that works if we don’t meet that the cost-per-kill ratio”.

Saab is currently building up a production capability for Nimbrix in Sweden, but partly with a view to minimising costs, Rydberg said the company is “also looking at the possibilities of in-country production close to the customers”.

In terms of firing platforms, the Saab briefing featured a tripod launcher, 4×4 vehicles and tracked unmanned ground vehicles, with the concept of operations calling for the system to be widely distributable and compatible with a range of mobile SHORAD solutions in addition to Saab’s own MSHORAD solution. Rydberg added, however, that a maritime application is also in the Nimbrix roadmap, noting that, for example, the Trackfire RWS is already integrated on the Swedish armed forces’ Combat Boat 90s.