Rheinmetall demos c-sUAS capabilities during Finland’s GBAD Demo Days

Rheinmetall has recently demonstrated its capabilities in countering small unmanned aerial systems (c-sUAS) to the Finnish Defence Forces, the company announced on 16 December 2025.

The demonstration took place at the Ground-based Air Defence (GBAD) Demo Days, held at the firing range in Lohtaja on the west coast of Finland from 25-27 November 2025, in which representatives of Rheinmetall Air Defence were invited to participate by the FDF’s Inspector of Air Defence.

“Despite challenging climatic conditions in a remote forest area, Rheinmetall impressed with a powerful and professional demonstration,” the company stated. “The demonstrated threats, ranging from jet drones to small quadcopters, as well as the frictionless co-operation with the organiser XD Solution and the Finnish armed forces underlined the operational readiness of the technologies on display. The main focus of the performance was on the detection, classification and tracking of a wide variety of drones in different airspaces and at different flight speeds.”

At the core of the presentation was Skyspotter: Rheinmetall’s multi-sensory early warning and reconnaissance system for detecting, classifying and tracking airborne threats. Skyspotter is designed to protect critical infrastructure and secure large areas against drone attacks. The system features an open architecture that allows the integration of different sensors and effectors depending on the threat level. In close co-operation with employees of Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles, a rapidly deployable version of the Skyspotter system based on a Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) HX truck was presented on site. This underscores the flexibility of the system architecture as well as the capabilities of the corporation, Rheinmetall noted.

During the demonstration Rheinmetall presented an integrated overall system consisting of the Skyspotter, several dislocated passive emitter locator sensors and a rapidly deployable, specialised command-and-control (C2) shelter. This ensures an optimum C2 capability at a safe distance from active components and increases the protection of operating personnel.

Skyspotter can be used to control directional jammers, interceptor drones and Rheinmetall’s highly flexible 30 mm Revolver Gun, which is currently in the concept phase. This uses individually programmable kinetic energy time fuze (KETF) ammunition, which relies solely on kinetic energy for its effect (also known as impact ammunition).

“The GBAD Demo Days 2025 have impressively highlighted the importance of partnership-based co-operation in the further development of modern air defence capabilities,” Oliver Dürr, head of Rheinmetall’s Electronic Solutions Division, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “We would like to thank the Finnish armed forces for the invitation and the excellent co-operation, as well as our industry partners and our Finnish partner Oy Telva. Their commitment and expertise have contributed significantly to successfully demonstrating the performance of our systems under realistic conditions.”