PARIS — The Netherlands plans to buy 22 Skyranger mobile air-defense cannons from Germany’s Rheinmetall to protect ground troops against the increased threat of drones, in a project with a budget of €1.3 billion (US$1.35 billion), the Dutch Ministry of Defence said.
The goal is for the first contracts to be signed in the first half of 2025, which should allow for deliveries to start in 2028 and be wrapped up the following year, State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman wrote in a letter to parliament on Wednesday. The budget covers the acquisition price as well as ammunition, operating costs over the weapons’ lifetime and a risk reserve.
The Dutch armed forces currently lack a mobile system that can adequately protect their medium and heavy infantry brigades against small and cheap drones, with longer-range systems neither efficient nor effective against the small drone threat, Tuinman said.
“We need to be better able to combat enemy drones, helicopters and other aerial threats,” Tuinman said in a post on X. “That’s why we are purchasing 22 mobile anti-drone gun systems. In this way we protect our own troops, strengthen combat power and contribute to NATO requirements.”
The Skyranger 30 systems can counter unmanned aircraft systems as well as low-flying helicopters and aircraft up to a distance of 5 kilometers, or roughly 3 miles, using a 30 millimeter rapid-fire cannon coupled with surface-to-air missiles for longer-range targets, the Dutch Ministry of Defence said.
The guns will be mounted on the Armoured Combat Support Vehicle from Germany’s Flensburger Fahrzeugbau, a 26-metric ton tracked vehicle designed to be air-transportable. The ministry is buying off-the-shelf equipment, which is advantageous in terms of price and delivery time, it said.
Unmanned aircraft systems have become a dominant feature of the battlefield in Ukraine, taking out everything from tanks to individual soldiers, and Western militaries are trying to figure out how to protect maneuvering troops in those conditions. The Netherlands said last month it would equip its soldiers with personal protection gear against drones, including targeting lasers and sensors.
The Skyranger’s Oerlikon 30 mm revolver cannon has a firing rate of around 1,200 rounds per minute, and can fire programmable airburst munitions. The turret has its own 360 degree active radar using fixed plate antennas, as well as an infrared thermal-imaging camera for passive tracking. Rheinmetall says the gun has an effective range of 3 kilometers.
NATO is also asking the Netherlands to invest in heavier land-combat capabilities such as ground-based air and missile defense and land-maneuver formations, the minister said. The Netherlands said in September it would again stand up a tank battalion, after having sold its last Leopard 2 tanks in 2011 due to budget cuts.
The Netherlands plans to set up five mobile air-defense units to protect the maneuver battalions of its medium and heavy infantry brigades, with each units receiving four Skyranger 30 combat C-UAS systems in addition to short-range air defense systems.
“Due to geopolitical developments and in case of further growth of the armed forces, it cannot be ruled out that a greater need will arise in the future than has been quantified so far,” Tuinman wrote. “The contracts will therefore include optionality for additional systems wherever possible.”
The vehicles for the Skyranger turret will be purchased in connection with a program announced last year to buy Kongsberg’s National Manoeuvre Air Defence System, a short-range system that also uses the ACSV tracked vehicle.
As part of the Kongsberg purchase, the Netherlands will receive five fire-control units and 18 NOMADS weapon platforms equipped with Sidewinder missiles, with deliveries set to start in 2028. A single short-range air-defense platoon, targeting threats up to 15 kilometers, consists of a mobile fire-control unit and three launchers, according to the Dutch MoD.
With Denmark, Germany and Austria also buying the Skyranger system, that will be positive for cooperation, according to Tuinman. The Netherlands is seeking “a high degree of interoperability” with European allies including Germany, the state secretary said.
Germany in February 2024 agreed to buy 19 Skyranger 30 systems mounted on a Boxer wheeled armored fighting vehicle for €595 million, including one prototype, and with an option to buy another 30 systems. In addition to the gun, the German systems will be armed with Raytheon’s Stinger air-defense missile.
That same month Austria announced an order for 36 Skyranger 30 systems, to be mounted on Pandur wheeled armored vehicles from General Dynamics European Land Systems, with delivery starting in 2026. The turrets for Austria’s systems will combine the 30 mm gun with Mistral guided missiles from MBDA.
Denmark in September followed with an order for 16 Skyranger 30 turrets to be mounted on the eight-wheeled Piranha armored personnel carrier in use with the Danish armed forces. Four units are scheduled for delivery in late 2026, with the remaining serial-produced turrets delivered over the following two years. At the time of the order, Denmark hadn’t picked the air-defense missile yet.
France’s armaments directorate in December asked KNDS France to develop similar mobile air-defense and anti-drone equipment, with an order for 30 Serval armored vehicles mounted with MBDA’s Atlas RC turret and Mistral missiles, and 24 Serval units equipped with a 30 mm cannon to target drones.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
