Germany's Skynex: A powerful shield against drones in Ukraine
The first recording of a deployed turret from one of the two Skynex system batteries has appeared online. This is the latest anti-drone solution, and it is not only used in Ukraine. Here is what it is capable of.
Ukraine received two Skynex point defence system batteries from Germany, which provide protection against drones, cruise missiles, artillery shells, and gliding bombs.
This solution is an evolution of the concept on which the much-praised Gepard system in Ukraine is based. In the recording below, you can see what the deployed turret looks like, covered with multi-range camouflage.
Skynex system — the drone and FAB destroyer
The Skynex system is the export version of the MANTIS sets used in Germany. It is built around the Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk3 automatic cannon, which has a caliber of 35 mm and a rate of fire of 1,000 rounds per minute (rds/min). It uses sub-calibre anti-tank ammunition or programmable AHEAD.
The system's effective range is 5 kilometers and can engage a wide range of targets. These include lightly armoured targets like drones, cruise missiles, or aircraft, as well as heavily armoured artillery shells and aerial bombs.
The gun is guided to its target using radar or an electro-optical head with a thermal sight and laser rangefinder. The target is eliminated using a multi-round burst, costing a few tens of thousands of euros at most.
Anti-tank ammunition rounds consist of small tungsten darts capable of piercing over 10 centimetres of armoured steel. Programmable ammunition rounds are filled with tungsten pellets surrounding an explosive charge. The charge is detonated by a fuse programmed at the barrel exit after a specified time. As a result, just a few metres before the target, a literal "wall" of destructive fragments is created, shredding the drone or missile body.
The complete system turret weighs 5 tonnes, along with a stock of 252 rounds of ammunition. When firing multi-round bursts, this is enough for many targets. This is a very good solution, but due to the small defence area covered, many such sets are needed (preferably not tens but even hundreds). Ideally, such a system would be mobile and mounted on a tracked chassis, which the Germans have considered in recent months.
