Ukraine slated to get Skyranger drone-defense cannons by year’s end

BERLIN — German arms giant Rheinmetall is poised to deliver its Skyranger short-range air defense system to Ukraine by the end of the year, according to the company’s chief executive.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told German public media earlier in the week that a contract to that effect would be signed on Wednesday at the DSEI defense expo in the UK.

As of late morning Thursday, a deal had yet to be announced.

The contract will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Papperger told broadcaster ZDF on Monday.

The Skyranger system is a short-range air defense turret that can be mounted on a variety of vehicle bases, including older tanks. Its 35-millimeter cannon can cover an area of 16 square kilometers, or six square miles, and is particularly useful in intercepting low-flying objects, such as drones.

“Each of these systems can cover four by four kilometers to be completely drone-free,” Papperger told German broadcaster ZDF.

Germany has been Ukraine’s most significant European backer since the start of the invasion. The Düsseldorf-based arms giant Rheinmetall has said it considers itself Ukraine’s “most important defense industry partner in the fight against Russian aggression.”

Alongside main battle tanks, armored fighting vehicles and ammunition of various types, the company has also sent other air defense systems of the Gepard and Skynex varieties to Kyiv in the past.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——据德国武器巨头莱茵金属公司首席执行官称，该公司准备在今年年底前向乌克兰交付其“天行者”短程防空系统。

莱茵金属公司首席执行官阿明·帕佩格尔本周早些时候告诉德国公共媒体，相关合同将于周三在英国举行的DSEI防务展上签署。

截至周四上午晚些时候，尚未宣布达成协议。

帕珀格周一告诉德国电视二台（ZDF），这份合同价值数亿美元。

“天行者”系统是一种短程防空炮塔，可安装在多种车辆底盘上，包括老式坦克。其35毫米火炮的射程可达16平方公里（6平方英里），尤其适用于拦截无人机等低空飞行物。

“这些系统每个都能覆盖 4 公里乘 4 公里的区域，完全杜绝无人机干扰，”帕佩格尔告诉德国广播公司 ZDF。

自入侵开始以来，德国一直是乌克兰最重要的欧洲支持者。总部位于杜塞尔多夫的武器巨头莱茵金属公司表示，它认为自己是乌克兰“对抗俄罗斯侵略最重要的国防工业合作伙伴”。

除了主战坦克、装甲战车和各种类型的弹药外，该公司过去还向基辅运送了猎豹和天狼星等其他防空系统。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。