Germany moves to field a miniature anti-drone missile

BERLIN — Germany is set to develop and deploy a miniature missile designed to combat drones inexpensively, with lawmakers approving a funding proposal on Nov. 5.

Dubbed SADM, the Small Anti-Drone Missile will be fitted onto Rheinmetall-made Skyranger 30 anti-aircraft vehicles. It is meant to complement the primary weapon, the onboard cannon. The new missile will be produced by MBDA, which has called the weapon DefendAir.

In an email to Defense News, Rheinmetall said the requisite launcher to integrate SADM into Skyranger is already included in the turret. It will be able to hold nine to twelve missiles, depending on the configuration of launch tubes.

The missile will extend the Skyranger’s effective engagement range from 2 to about 6 kilometers, according to previous reporting . The new weapons will feature specialized seeker capabilities and a warhead designed to counter drones weighing at most 150 kilograms, known as class 1 UAS.

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, stated that with the introduction of these missiles, the Skyranger system would become “fully capable of defending against small and micro drones.” In a press release , the military said that this was a reflection of lessons learned in Ukraine, where the use of tiny and small drones presents a “significant threat to the population, soldiers, weapons systems and infrastructure.”

Together with the cannon, the missiles will allow a single Skyranger to destroy up to thirty drones in one engagement, the military said on Nov. 6. It will be the first time the German military’s arsenal has an armored air defense system designed to counter drones.

The decision to go with SADM over competing options, including the Stinger missile, was made by the government in May. This week’s approval by the German Bundestag, the country’s parliament, is a legal hurdle that any military procurement project worth at least €25 million ($28.8 million) must clear.

The development and procurement of the new missile is reported to cost €490 million, or $565 million, according to military news website Hartpunkt.de.

According to the Bundeswehr, SADM will be added to a list of systems qualified under the European Sky Shield Initiative, which the previous German government launched as a pan-European initiative to address the continent’s lack of air defense capabilities.

The group currently counts 24 members, stretching from the Article Circle to the Middle East, who have agreed to coordinate air defense capabilities, including procurement, to strengthen their collective aerial defenses.

Germany and other European governments have been scrambling to close this critical gap, flagged as a priority in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine starting in February 2022. Alongside Skyranger, Germany has invested in other air defense systems, including the long-range, Israeli-made Arrow 3 interceptor.

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——德国计划研发并部署一种旨在低成本打击无人机的微型导弹，议员们于11月5日批准了一项拨款提案。

这款名为SADM的小型反无人机导弹将安装在莱茵金属公司生产的Skyranger 30防空车辆上，旨在与车辆的主武器——车载机炮——形成互补。新型导弹将由MBDA公司生产，该公司将其命名为DefendAir。

莱茵金属公司在发给《防务新闻》的一封电子邮件中表示，将SADM导弹集成到Skyranger导弹炮塔所需的发射器已经包含在炮塔内。根据发射管的配置，该发射器可容纳9至12枚导弹。

根据之前的报道，该导弹将把“天行者”（Skyranger）导弹的有效交战距离从2公里扩展到约6公里。这种新型武器将配备专用导引头和专为对抗重量不超过150公斤的无人机（即1级无人机系统）而设计的弹头。

德国联邦国防军表示，随着这些导弹的引进，Skyranger系统将“完全具备防御小型和微型无人机的能力”。军方在一份新闻稿中称，这反映了从乌克兰吸取的教训，在乌克兰，小型无人机的使用对民众、士兵、武器系统和基础设施构成了“重大威胁”。

军方于11月6日表示，导弹与机炮配合使用，将使一架“天行者”无人机在一次交战中摧毁多达30架无人机。这将是德国军方武器库中首次拥有专门用于对抗无人机的装甲防空系统。

德国政府在五月份决定选择SADM导弹系统，而不是其他竞争方案，包括毒刺导弹。本周，德国联邦议院（德国议会）批准了该项目，这标志着任何价值至少2500万欧元（2880万美元）的军事采购项目都必须通过一项法律审批程序。

据军事新闻网站Hartpunkt.de报道，新型导弹的研发和采购费用约为4.9亿欧元，约合5.65亿美元。

据德国联邦国防军称，SADM 将被列入欧洲天空之盾计划的合格系统清单中。该计划是德国前政府发起的一项泛欧倡议，旨在解决欧洲大陆防空能力不足的问题。

该组织目前共有 24 个成员，范围从联盟圈延伸至中东，这些成员已同意协调防空能力（包括采购），以加强其集体防空能力。

德国和其他欧洲国家政府一直在努力弥补这一关键缺口，这在俄罗斯于 2022 年 2 月全面入侵乌克兰之后立即被列为优先事项。除了 Skyranger 导弹系统外，德国还投资了其他防空系统，包括以色列制造的远程 Arrow 3 拦截导弹。

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。