Key Points
- Germany’s Bundestag authorised about $562 million for improvement and preliminary procurement of MBDA’s DefendAir counter-drone missile.
- The funding covers improvement, qualification, launch containers and the primary manufacturing batch, with serial manufacturing deliberate to start in 2029.
The German Bundestag’s price range committee has authorised roughly €490 million ($563 million) to develop and procure a brand new short-range missile supposed to defeat small unmanned plane, paving the best way for a contract between the Bundeswehr and MBDA Deutschland.
The allocation, confirmed to the protection press by well-placed sources, follows approval earlier within the day by the protection committee of a associated €25 million ($29 million) choice that permits the ministry to shut a take care of the producer.
According to reporting from hardpunkt, just a little greater than two thirds of the €490 million are earmarked for the event and qualification of the weapon that MBDA now markets as DefendAir, previously known as the “Small Anti Drone Missile (SADM).” The remaining funds are supposed for the preliminary call-off of serial manufacturing missiles. Parliamentary paperwork and trade briefings point out this system contains not solely the missiles themselves and the manufacturing line, but additionally the event and qualification of launch containers. Industry sources say serial manufacturing is scheduled to start in 2029 and that deliveries to the Bundeswehr may begin in 2030.
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DefendAir has been chosen by the Bundeswehr as a secondary armament for the Skyranger 30 air protection gun car, hardpunkt reported. The protection committee approval addressed the separate funding package deal for the missile program; integration of the interceptor on the Skyranger was reportedly already lined within the car’s improvement and procurement contract. Plans name for every Skyranger to hold at the least 9 DefendAir missiles, with procurement paperwork noting the potential for twelve rounds per car.
MBDA Germany is creating DefendAir by adapting its current light-weight munition household, recognized in Bundeswehr classification as “Leichtes Wirkmittel 1.800 +” and bought commercially underneath the title “Enforcer.” The new interceptor provides an air-target seeker and a booster to increase attain relative to the baseline Enforcer spherical. Company and parliamentary summaries say the booster will increase the interceptor’s attain to roughly 5 kilometers, enabling engagement of small aerial threats at quick ranges applicable to vehicle-mounted, point-defense roles.
Documents circulated throughout the Bundestag present this system is constructed round a twin timetable: an instantaneous improvement and qualification part paid from the authorised tranche and a later manufacturing part that might be triggered by follow-on orders.
German officers framed the transfer as a part of ongoing modernization of ground-based air protection. The Skyranger 30, already in Bundeswehr acquisition plans, combines a 30 mm autocannon with sensor and command techniques for short-range air protection; including a devoted interceptor is supposed to develop the car’s engagement choices towards small drones, loitering munitions and different low-signature threats.
Germany’s choice highlights a broader development: European armies are investing in purpose-built, missile-based counters to small unmanned techniques that may be deployed on cellular platforms. The DefendAir strategy—combining a seeker, a booster and containerized launchers—displays the operational drawback many militaries now face in defending maneuver forces and demanding infrastructure from low-cost aerial threats.
The program’s timetable, with qualification work underway and manufacturing slated for the top of the last decade, additionally indicators how militaries are managing dangers between short-term functionality gaps and longer procurement cycles.
