독일 국방부가 1월 19일 박서 장갑차에 장착할 신형 근거리 대공시스템의 시제품 생산 예산 12억 3천만 유로를 승인했다고 발표했습니다.
이 미사일 시스템은 IRIS-T 대공미사일을 활용할 예정이며, 사통차량/레이더/미사일 발사차량과 지휘소로 구성될 예정이며, 현재 운영중인 MAN 트럭 8X8 탑재 시스템과는 별도로 개발되는 물건이네요. 레이더와 지휘통제장비는 헨솔트제라고 합니다. 박서 탑재형을 개발하는 이유는 군수체계 간소화 때문이라고.
독일은 2005년 롤랜드 대공미사일 체계, 2010년 게파드 대공전차가 퇴역한 이후 야전방공체계가 공백이 됐는데, 이 시스템과 30mm 스카이레인저로 야전방공체계를 새로이 구축할 예정입니다.
A model of a Diehl Iris-T air-to-air missile is pictured at the Farnborough Airshow, England, on July 19, 2022. A ground-launched version of the interceptor is a key ingredient in Germany's plan to counter drones. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
COLOGNE, Germany — German lawmakers approved a government request this week to spend €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) on a new short-range air defense capability based on a ground-launched variant of the Diehl Defence-made IRIS-T missile.
The money will pay for the integration of short- and medium-range interceptors on the Boxer vehicle, made by Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, as well as radar and command-and-control equipment by Hensoldt. The companies announced their partnership for the program in spring 2021.
Defense officials have long lamented a capability gap in the protection of deployed forces against drones, missiles and aircraft since the retirement of key air-defense platforms like the Roland missile tank and the Gepard cannon tank in 2005 and 2010, respectively.
A prototype of the new, interceptor-based capability is set to be finished by 2028, the German ministry of defense said in a Jan. 19 statement.
Later this year, the government also plans to buy a cannon-based weapon for shooting drones and other low-flying threats out of the sky. But unlike the Boxer/IRIS-T combination, that system will come without government development costs. Rheinmetall’s 30mm-caliber Skyranger is deemed the prospective system choice, with plans for a production line pending until a contract is signed.
Also in the works, under German navy auspices, is an interception technology by way of high-powered laser beams.
In clearing the funds on Jan. 17, lawmakers on the parliamentary budget committee requested an independent cost examination. The caveat follows a report by “Der Spiegel” in December that said the cost for the entire short-range defensive package had increased from €240 million to €1.3 billion.
A defense ministry spokesman told Defense News the reported cost increase amounted to “comparing apples to oranges.” That’s because the program, with its initial financial projections, was conceived in 2018, under a drastically different geopolitical and defense-industrial picture compared with today, the ministry spokesman said.
Since that year, the 2020 conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh spooked defense officials in Berlin because of the effective use of attack drones by Azerbaijan, leading to fears Germany’s arsenal would be ill-suited for similar threats. Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in 2022, has further highlighted how drones, employed by the thousands, have become battle deciders in modern warfare, increasing the need for sophisticated defensive systems.
As a result, there is now a higher demand for counter-drone capabilities on the global arms market, leading to manufacturers charging higher prices, the spokesman said.
German BOXER ambulance vehicle crossing a temporary bridge formed by several UK and German M3 Amphibious Rigs in Minden, during a joint UK/German Bridging Operation. Credits: MOD Crown Copyright.
Germany has approved €1.23bn ($1.34bn) of funding from the Bundeswehr special fund for production of a new prototype for a guided missile near-range anti-aircraft system by 2028, to be mounted on the Boxer armoured vehicle, the German Federal Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced, 19 January 2024.
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The last two pillars of German anti-aircraft capabilty included the Gepard (Cheetah) tank, armed with two 35mm machine cannons as an anti-aircraft turret weapon, intended for low-flying aircraft and helicopters, as well as ground forces, but this was taken out of service in 2010 with the dissolution of the German Army anti-aircraft force. The second pillar was the Roland anti-aircraft missile tank, taken out of service in 2005.
Experience from the war in Ukraine has spurred the rejuvenation of this capacity, and seen discarded Cheetah tanks re-serviced and delivered into operation with Ukraine’s military.
The new prototype anti-aircraft network will require a command post at its core, along with fire control vehicles, radar systems and the anti-aircraft missile vehicles themselves. In the release announcing the new programme it was stated that the IRIS-T SLSInfra will be used as the central munition of the system.
This missile is the ground-to-air variant of the IRIS-T air-to-air missile that entered service with the German Air Force in 2005, after Germany sought to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
The decision to build a new prototype anti-aircraft system on a Boxer’s is less a reflection on the performance capability of the MAN 8×8 truck than it is a decision motivated by Germany and Nato’s broad adoption of the Boxer family of vehicles, and the synergies from commonality, in terms of simplified logistics, according to GlobalData analysts.
This desired synergy among Boxer type vehicles, the development of an anti-aircraft missile system on a Boxer, and the push for rejuvenating German anti-aircraft capability all map onto an observation of the in-service German Boxer fleet.
There are Boxers built for anti-aircraft using guns; to deliver a Boxer for anti-aircraft capabilities sing missiles would mirror the mixture of effectors that were originally central to the German Army’s anti-aircraft capability, before 2010 and 2005.