Rheinmetall Air Defence has awarded Hensoldt a EUR 100 million contract to supply Spexer 2000M 3D MkIII radars for use in the new Skyranger 30 Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORAD) turret ordered by Austria and Germany for their new mobile air defence platforms.
The Skyranger VSHORAD turret will be installed on Austria’s newly acquired Pandur Evolution 6×6 armoured vehicles, purchased from General Dynamics European Land Systems-Steyr, as well as Germany’s Boxer 8×8 armoured vehicles. The Skyranger 30 is addressing a capability gap within the German Armed Forces, which arose after the retirement of the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in 2010.
Spexer 2000 3D MKIII has been designed to provide detection data and target classification at an early stage to efficiently counter late unmasking attack helicopters and ground attack aircraft as well as new small UAV threats while the vehicle is on the move or stationary in operation. The radar has been optimised for detecting very small targets at very short ranges.
