The Skyranger 30 is a short range air defense

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

system developed

Rheinmetall Air Defence Rheinmetall Air Defence AG is a division of German armament manufacturer Rheinmetall, created when the company's Oerlikon Contraves unit was renamed on 1 January 2009 and integrated with Rheinmetall's other air-defence products. Oerlikon Contra ...

AG (formerly Oerlikon) and first revealed in March 2021. Its role is to provide ground units with a mobile system capable of engaging

fixed Fixed may refer to: * ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails * ''Fixed'', an upcoming 2D adult animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky * Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System * ...

- and

rotary-wing aircraft A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internat ...

, Group I and II

unmanned aerial system An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s (UAS),

loitering munition A loitering munition (also known as a suicide droneLoitering Muniti ...

s and

cruise missiles A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead ...

.Rheinmetall Air Defence unveils its Skyranger 30 (upgraded)
''European Defence Review''. 3 March 2021.Countering RAM, drones and other flying objects with highly mobile assets, Rheinmetall’s solutions
''European Defence Review''. 1 July 2022.

Design

The Skyranger 30 follows the same general configuration as the

Skyranger 35 The Skyranger 35 is a short range air defence Gun turret, turret system developed Rheinmetall Air Defence, Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (formerly Oerlikon). A mobile version of the Skyshield air defense system, it is based on a turret equipped with ...

, a remote turret with a 1.414 m-diameter turret ring, but with less weight of 2-2.5 tonnes enabling it to be installed on lighter 6×6 wheeled vehicles. The turret features a central armored structure with basic protection of Level 2, which can be fitted with add-on armor to increase to Level 4. It is fitted with a modified version of the Oerlikon KCA 30 mm cannon used on the

Saab 37 Viggen The Saab 37 Viggen (Swedish for ''"the Bolt"'' or ''"the Tufted Duck"'' ( see name)) is a retired Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range combat aircraft. Development work on the type was initiated at Saab in 1952 and, following ...

fighter jet named the KCE. While it has a shorter effective range than the Skyranger 35 of 3 km, it has a higher rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute; it maintains the ability to elevate 85° to combat terminal diving targets and 252 ready rounds are carried. The gun fires a 30 mm airburst munition based on the 35 mm AHEAD ammunition carrying 160

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

cylinders weighing 200 grams in total which is time-programmed upon leaving the muzzle to open up in front of a target to form a lethal cone. During a test carried out against an eight-drone swarm, an 18-round burst successfully neutralized it, with most destroyed by the first six rounds. Additional features include two ROSY (Rapid Obscuring System) launchers each with nine multispectral

smoke grenade Smoke grenades used at demonstrations in Paris, 2008 upBritish L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used. A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone mark ...

s, a hatch in the hull ceiling for the vehicle commander to view the battlefield from outside, and a

coaxial machine gun A weapon mount is an assembly or mechanism used to hold a weapon (typically a gun) onto a platform in order for it to function at maximum capacity. Weapon mounts can be broken down into two categories: static mounts and non-static mounts. Stat ...

fitted on the left of the main gun for use as a self-defense weapon. Due to the system’s reduced weight, the Skyranger 30 turret is able to integrate two short-range

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s (SAMs). Missiles guided by laser beam riding or

infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

such as the

FIM-92 Stinger The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters as the Air-to- ...

Mistral Mistral may refer to: * Mistral (wind) in southern France and Sardinia Automobiles * Maserati Mistral, a Maserati grand tourer produced from 1963 until 1970 * Nissan Mistral, or Terrano II, a Nissan 4×4 produced from 1993 until 2006 * Microp ...

can be integrated, as well as the

SkyKnight The Douglas F3D Skyknight (later designated F-10 Skyknight) is an American twin-engined, mid-wing fighter aircraft, jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California. The F3D was designed as a carrier- ...

. Depending on the type, missiles extend range up to 8-9 km while the gun covers the space under their minimum engagement range. To detect targets, the Skyranger 30 uses the

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventional ...

AESA Aesa or Aisa ( grc, Αἶσα) was a town of ancient Macedonia. Aesa belonged to the Delian League since it appears on a tribute list to Athens in 434/3 BCE. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World identify Aesa wi ...

Multi-Mission Radar (AMMR) developed by Rheinmetall Italia. Five flat antennas integrated around the turret provide full 360° coverage. The AMMR has a detection range of over 20 km for a 1 m²

RCS RCS may refer to: Organisations *Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace * Radio Corporation of Singapore *Radcliffe Choral Society * Rawmarsh Community School *Red Crescent Society *Red Cross Society * Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, a football t ...

aircraft, 12 km against hovering helicopters, 10 km against missiles, and 5 km against RAM targets and micro-UAS. For passive detection, the vehicle is installed with Rheinmetall’s FIRST (Fast

InfraRed Search and Track An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. ...

), which is optimized to detect pop-up targets such as helicopters. Identification and tracking is handled by a compact target tracker that includes one HD cooled MWIR

thermal camera A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

, one full-HD TV camera, and two

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

s, one devoted to air targets and the other for land targets. Additional add-ons are under consideration, including

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

systems in the form of passive emitter locators to pick up UAV

data link A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...

signals, as well as RF-jammers to jam such links to neutralize UAVs without using kinetic effectors. In late 2021, Rheinmetall unveiled the Skyranger 30 high-energy laser (HEL), intended to increase the system's ability to neutralize small targets at greater range and lower cost. The initial power level is 20 kw, with an immediate goal to increase it to 50 kw and an ideal goal of 100 kw.

Operators

Future operators

* - The government of Hungary signed a MoU in 2021 about developing a

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

-based air defense vehicle using the Skyranger 30 turrets with Mistral missiles. A

Pindad Badak Pindad Badak is a 6×6 fire support vehicle designed and produced by PT Pindad. The name ''Badak'' means rhinoceros in Indonesian. Development A prototype of Anoa fire-support version (FSV) using an Alvis AC 90 turret with the Cockerill 90 mm M ...

with a mockup turret of the Oerlikon Skyranger 30 was shown during 2022 Indonesian Defence Exposition & Forum. Indonesia has not officially stated its plans to acquire the system.

References

{{Reflist

External links

OERLIKON SKYRANGER® 30
-

.
OERLIKON SKYRANGER® MOBILE AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM
Rheinmetall. Weapon turrets

Design

Operators

Future operators

See also

References

External links