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Diehl Defence’s Latest Trials Reinvent Europe’s Layered Drone Defense Amid Rising UAV Threats.
Diehl Defence has carried out live trials of its Kinetic Defence Vehicle (KDV) and CICADA eMissile at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany, integrating both within the modular Sky Sphere counter-drone system. The tests highlight how European ground-based air defence is adapting to cheap drones and loitering munitions that have reshaped combat from Ukraine to the Middle East.
On November 27, 2025, Diehl Defence announced successful live trials of two complementary counter-drone systems at the Grafenwoehr military training area in Germany. Against the backdrop of intensive UAV use in conflicts from Ukraine to the Middle East, the company set out to validate vehicle-mounted and missile-based responses to small and fixed-wing drones. The campaign brought together the Kinetic Defence Vehicle (KDV) and the electrically powered CICADA eMissile, integrated within the modular Sky Sphere system for close-in drone protection. This demonstration underlines how European ground-based air defence is adapting to low-cost aerial threats that can saturate or bypass traditional systems.
Diehl’s KDV and CICADA counter-drone trials in Germany showcase Europe’s drive to harden layered ground-based air defences against cheap, massed UAV and loitering munition threats across current and future battlefields (Picture source: Diehl Defence)
At the heart of the campaign were two distinct but complementary effectors. The Kinetic Defence Vehicle is a highly mobile, vehicle-based counter-UAS platform that combines radar and electro-optical sensors with a remotely operated weapon station to engage drones at short range. Designed as a point-defence solution, it provides an integrated detect-to-engage chain on a light 4x4 platform, enabling it to accompany manoeuvre units or protect convoys, command posts and critical infrastructure. The Grafenwoehr trials focused on demonstrating that small drones can be detected, tracked and engaged automatically, with the operator retaining the final decision to fire. In parallel, Diehl Defence tested CICADA, an electrically powered missile designed specifically against NATO Class I and smaller Class II drones, integrated as an effector within the Sky Sphere drone defence architecture. CICADA offers both a lethal fragmentation warhead and a non-lethal net payload, giving commanders the choice between destruction and capture depending on the rules of engagement and the environment.
The Grafenwoehr campaign represents a significant milestone in the evolution of these systems, transitioning them from trade-show prototypes to operationally relevant platforms. Earlier this year, Diehl Defence showcased its Sky Sphere and CICADA systems at the Enforce Tac exhibition in Nuremberg, emphasizing their role as critical components within a comprehensive, multi-layered air defense strategy. The Kinetic Defence Vehicle, a proven platform already supplied to Ukraine for countering small drones near combat zones, has now been upgraded with advanced sensors, AI-enhanced target recognition, and an improved effector suite, extending its engagement range and effectiveness against both multicopter and fast fixed-wing UAVs. During the Grafenwoehr trials, a containerized Sky Sphere system was employed to rigorously test the entire sensor-to-shooter chain under dynamic conditions, focusing on seamless integration of detection, classification, tracking, and interception capabilities against realistic threat profiles. These tests also incorporated a long-range effector for fixed-wing targets, demonstrating that the system is designed to operate as an integrated part of a layered defense network rather than as a standalone solution.
One of the key advantages of the Diehl approach is the mix of effectors and levels of force it brings to the counter-UAS problem. Compared with using high-end surface-to-air missiles such as IRIS-T SLM against small commercial drones, the KDV and CICADA offer a far more cost-effective response while preserving high-value missiles for larger threats like cruise missiles or combat aircraft. Sky Sphere’s modular design allows it to combine different sensors, such as radar and electro-optics, with both kinetic and non-kinetic effectors, including future integration of high-power electromagnetic (HPEM) soft-kill systems. In practice, this means that a single architecture can be tailored to protect a forward operating base, a deployed brigade or a civilian site such as an airport or energy facility, with lethal or non-lethal options as required. By contrast, many legacy C-UAS solutions are either purely jamming-based, which can be less effective against autonomous or hardened drones, or rely solely on gun systems with limited coverage and higher risk of collateral damage. Diehl’s combination of AI-assisted detection, automated cueing and selectable effectors aims to reduce the time from detection to engagement while keeping a human in the loop, an increasingly important factor when dealing with swarms and saturating attacks.
Strategically, the successful tests at Grafenwoehr represent more than a product milestone: they position Germany and its industrial partners as suppliers of scalable counter‑drone solutions for NATO and EU allies at a time when small UAVs have become a defining feature of contemporary conflict. The demonstrated capability of the Kinetic Defence Vehicle to shield highly mobile forces and logistics nodes, together with containerised Sky Sphere modules for fixed sites, directly addresses vulnerabilities exposed on the Eastern flank and during recent multinational exercises.
Integrating CICADA and Sky Sphere into existing air‑defence networks would strengthen the lower tiers of protection, reducing the need to duplicate high‑end systems or burden them with low‑value targets. Beyond Europe, these modular, exportable systems offer partners a pragmatic option to protect critical infrastructure, ports, and naval bases from low‑altitude threats without immediate investment in full‑spectrum architectures. Geopolitically, advancing effective counter‑drone capabilities incrementally erodes the tactical advantage that low‑cost UAVs have afforded state and non‑state actors over the past decade.
By demonstrating that its Kinetic Defence Vehicle and CICADA eMissile can work together as part of a coherent, AI-supported sensor-to-shooter chain, Diehl Defence has shown that European industry can rapidly translate battlefield lessons on drones into concrete capabilities. The Grafenwoehr trials confirm that short-range, layered counter-UAS solutions are moving from concept to reality, offering armed forces a more flexible spectrum of responses from non-lethal interception to hard-kill engagements against both small multicopters and high-flying fixed-wing drones. For NATO members and partners facing increasingly dense and sophisticated drone threats, the message is clear: scalable, modular and affordable counter-drone systems like KDV and Sky Sphere with CICADA are set to become an essential element of future force protection and air defence planning.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.