BERLIN — Germany is set to develop and deploy a miniature missile designed to combat drones inexpensively, with lawmakers approving a funding proposal on Nov. 5.
Dubbed SADM, the Small Anti-Drone Missile will be fitted onto Rheinmetall-made Skyranger 30 anti-aircraft vehicles. It is meant to complement the primary weapon, the onboard cannon. The new missile will be produced by MBDA, which has called the weapon DefendAir.
In an email to Defense News, Rheinmetall said the requisite launcher to integrate SADM into Skyranger is already included in the turret. It will be able to hold nine to twelve missiles, depending on the configuration of launch tubes.
The missile will extend the Skyranger’s effective engagement range from 2 to about 6 kilometers, according to previous reporting. The new weapons will feature specialized seeker capabilities and a warhead designed to counter drones weighing at most 150 kilograms, known as class 1 UAS.
The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, stated that with the introduction of these missiles, the Skyranger system would become “fully capable of defending against small and micro drones.” In a press release, the military said that this was a reflection of lessons learned in Ukraine, where the use of tiny and small drones presents a “significant threat to the population, soldiers, weapons systems and infrastructure.”
Together with the cannon, the missiles will allow a single Skyranger to destroy up to thirty drones in one engagement, the military said on Nov. 6. It will be the first time the German military’s arsenal has an armored air defense system designed to counter drones.
The decision to go with SADM over competing options, including the Stinger missile, was made by the government in May. This week’s approval by the German Bundestag, the country’s parliament, is a legal hurdle that any military procurement project worth at least €25 million ($28.8 million) must clear.
The development and procurement of the new missile is reported to cost €490 million, or $565 million, according to military news website Hartpunkt.de.
According to the Bundeswehr, SADM will be added to a list of systems qualified under the European Sky Shield Initiative, which the previous German government launched as a pan-European initiative to address the continent’s lack of air defense capabilities.
The group currently counts 24 members, stretching from the Article Circle to the Middle East, who have agreed to coordinate air defense capabilities, including procurement, to strengthen their collective aerial defenses.
Germany and other European governments have been scrambling to close this critical gap, flagged as a priority in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine starting in February 2022. Alongside Skyranger, Germany has invested in other air defense systems, including the long-range, Israeli-made Arrow 3 interceptor.
Linus Höller is Defense News’ Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds a master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.
