DefendAir Small Missiles Give Germany’s Skyranger 30 Turret a New Edge in Drone Defense.

Germany has approved MBDA’s DefendAir Small Anti-Drone Missile for integration with the Rheinmetall Skyranger 30 system, marking a major step in layered air defense. The missile adds a new standoff capability shaped by lessons from Ukraine and strengthens NATO’s short-range counter-UAS posture.

According to the German Federal Ministry of Defence on November 5, 2025, lawmakers approved the development, production, and procurement of the Small Anti-Drone Missile for the Skyranger 30, now entering service. The ministry said the new effector will complement the turret’s 30 mm cannon and fully equip the system for defending against small and micro drones, reflecting lessons from Ukraine and other conflicts.
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Germany funds MBDA DefendAir for Skyranger 30, adding low-cost 6 km counter-drone reach beyond the 30 mm cannon (Picture source: MBDA/Rheinmetall).

The missile, designated SADM by the Bundeswehr and marketed by MBDA as DefendAir, adds a low-cost standoff layer to the Boxer-mounted Skyranger 30. Parliament’s Budget Committee cleared the project during its November 5 session, a legal step for all programs above 25 million euros. Reporting from Hartpunkt places the package at roughly 490 million euros, with funding divided between development and an initial batch, and points to a serial production start around 2029 that would align with Germany’s phased Skyranger fielding.

DefendAir is derived from MBDA’s Enforcer family, a 90 mm, sub-1-meter effector weighing about 7.5 kilograms, and employs passive day and night guidance. For the anti-UAS role, MBDA is adding a booster for extended reach and an adapted air-target seeker. Hartpunkt notes a planned range of around five kilometers, pushing the Skyranger’s engagement envelope beyond the gun’s three-kilometer effective range. Defense News adds that Rheinmetall’s turret already contains the launcher interface, allowing nine to twelve ready rounds.

On the vehicle, Skyranger 30 pairs its missile pod with Rheinmetall’s KCE 30×173 mm revolver cannon and programmable AHEAD airburst ammunition. The turret holds 252 ready rounds and can deliver a nominal 1,200 rounds per minute or a precise, rapid single-shot mode, enabling efficient close-in intercepts while the missile handles standoff shots. This gun-missile blend creates a layered kill web from snapshot to several kilometers, crucial against FPV and quadcopter threats that probe just outside gun range.

Hensoldt has a contract to supply Spexer air defense radars for Skyranger 30 variants, giving crews 360-degree detection and tracking on the move and enabling automated handoff between gun and missile based on range, geometry, and collateral constraints. That native integration reduces latency in the detect-track-engage chain, the difference between breaking an incoming FPV run at five kilometers and fighting it over friendly trenches.

DefendAir changes the geometry of the fight for German brigades. Instead of absorbing constant attrition from small drones hovering at the edge of cannon reach, Skyranger sections will attrit threats earlier and preserve precious AHEAD stocks for terminal defense. Rheinmetall told Defense News the launcher is integral to the turret, which simplifies logistics and preserves mobility, while the planned nine to twelve ready rounds make multi-kill sequences realistic rather than theoretical. The Bundeswehr’s own language is categorical, stating the missile “will complement the Skyranger 30's onboard cannon. The system will thus be fully capable of defending against small and micro drones.”

The acquisition sits squarely in Europe’s accelerated counter-UAS push. Germany’s Skyranger program is part of the European Sky Shield Initiative, and allied customers are moving in parallel. Austria has ordered 36 Skyranger 30 turrets for Pandur EVO vehicles, integrating Mistral as the secondary effector, while Denmark contracted for sixteen Skyranger 30 turrets on Piranha V platforms. Hungary, for its part, placed a development order for a Lynx-mounted Skyranger variant. A DefendAir-equipped Skyranger therefore has clear interoperability and export pathways across NATO fleets.

For the record, the BMVg’s justification frames the threat succinctly and is worth quoting in part: “The Small Anti Drone Missile will complement the Skyranger 30's onboard cannon. The system will thus be fully capable of defending against small and micro drones.” In practical terms, that means earlier intercepts against Class-1 UAS up to roughly 150 kilograms and an effective reach of six kilometers when paired with Skyranger’s sensors and fire control. If MBDA holds to the 2029 serial timeline and Rheinmetall sustains turret deliveries, the Bundeswehr will field a compact, affordable counter-UAS system built for the threat that exists now, not the one planners wished for five years ago. The November 5 approval is the hinge, turning Skyranger 30 from a gun-centric solution into Germany’s first purpose-built armored drone defense system.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.