Why some anti-drone artillery have a towering price

Last night Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 400 Shahed-Type drones, many of which flew through the Polish airspaceAn Het a house In the village of Wyryki, while Polish troops others shot.

Such incidents are likely to continue, and every future war will probably include even greater waves of attack drones. As the DSEI Defense Exhibition & Trade Show Opened yesterday in London, Drone defense for Europe appeared large, with many anti-drone guns.

Armin Papperger, CEO of the German armor Rheinmetall CEO says he is that Expect an order from the German government Worth a few billion euros for hundreds of Skyranger Air Defense Guns. This enormous bill is one of the reasons why governments have been slow to acquire urgently necessary drone protection.

In the meantime, Ukraine uses weapons that cost a hundred times less to bring down Shaheds, which suggests that something is wrong with European defense purchasing. Dr. Jack Watling From the British defense Thinktank Rusi told me that European defensiefardware is “fairly universally too expensive” – ​​but the causes are complex and more difficult to tackle than you might think.

How parded came out of retirement

Existing on rockets -based air defenses are struggling to cope with the threat of small drones. Pricey powerful surface-air missiles such as Patriot can easily tackle fast jets, helicopters and cruise rockets, but are only purchased in small numbers. Make the US alone 650 PAC-3 Patriots in a year, And Russia can launch more Shaheds than that one night. Hence the renewed interest in old-school anti-aircraft guns with a lot of ammunition.

Cruising at 120 km / h and less than 10,000 feet, Shaheds are individually easy to down. Hundreds of stopping in one night is a challenge. Parded Self -driving anti -aircraft gun vehicles, made in Germany in the 1970s, have been remarkably successful in the fall of drones. The tank -like parded has a tower with a pair of 35 mm automatic cannon that fires nearly 20 rounds per second, led by the own radar of the parded.

Ukraine acquired around 120 pards from Germany and from the US via Jordan, although they had retired last in 2012 from the Bundeswehr. De Parde has found a new life on the front line against Shahss: slowly flying drones that move in a straight line are easy goals. The pards are now decorated with rows of deaths, with only one shooter who claims to have fallen with 28 Shaheds,

According to a Parde commanderUkraine’s top three weapons for combating Shaheds are “parded, parded and parded.”

Germany stopped making pards in 1980 and the successor is the SkyangerA twin radar-guided 30 mm rifle turret made by Rheinmetall, making it the natural choice for the German army. The weapon system costs around $ 12 million and Papperger, Speaking in AugustExpect an order for around 500 that would yield a cool $ 6 billion,

However, the Skyranger tower is only one part. You also need a vehicle to turn it on. In 2024, the Bundeswehr 19 Skyrangers ordered mounted on boxer armored vehicles for around $ 36 million each. It is a capable high-tech system, but should drone defense be so expensive?

Skyranger vs Sky Sentinel

Ukraine strengthens his anti-Gesel air defenses with locally made Sky Sentinel turrets. Sky Sentinel is a stand-alone trailer that mounts a few .50 caliber machine guns, using cameras and AI software instead of radar to follow goals. Every Sky Sentinel costs $ 100k, or about 1% as much as Skyranger.

The smaller caliber means shorter range but strongly reduced costs. Rheinmetall Sold 35 mm ammunition for the Ukraine’s pards About $ 600 per roundAnd the supplied 300,000 rounds are low. Rheinmetall claims an even more advanced anti-drone round for Skyranger, which will be more than $ 1,000 per shot. At 20 rounds per second it is soon correct.

On the other hand, 50 caliber ammunition is common and cheap; The US Army currently pays $ 2.67 per round. Again, it is inferior to the larger caliber rounds, but more than powerful enough to bring down thin Shaheds. And the factor of 100 price difference, plus the ready availability is considerable. Nobody wants to have an ammunition crisis in the middle of a long war.

Watling notes that Sky Ranger can tackle a wider range of threats at larger heights, and that Sky Sentinel works best when it becomes a network with other systems, while Skyranger works well in itself. The German system also has more advanced aim and works in a wider range of climates. There is no doubt that the Germans bought a better product by paying the extra.

But did they have to pay so much?

Cost drivers: history, capacity and greed

Watling says that the two systems are not immediately comparable, because Skyranger was designed for mobile warfare with expedition forces instead of Homeland Defense. And Ukraine has other advantages.

“Cost differences reflect relative labor costs, costs for security with legal requirements and the fact that the Ukrainian company does not charge much through a margin,” says Watling.

He also notes that because it is in a native defense system of radars and other sensors, Sky Sentinel does not need all the possibilities of Skyranger.

Watling suggests that the gap between the two is narrower than the raw factor of 100 figure could suggest. But, he adds: “European defense equipment is quite universally too expensive.”

The reasons for this are legal obstacles and the fact that suppliers do not trust that orders will continue when the political weather changes, want to earn the costs quickly instead of counting on a long -term scheme. And there is a simple motive to want to make as much profit as possible.

“They are partly companies that charge a large margin because they can,” says Watling.

This is unlikely for Germany. The government wants to increase and maintains its industrial base and expenditure in Germany. Buying from Rheinmetall looks politically appropriate. Nobody in Germany seems to object to pay more for the luxury system: it offers a fast and proven solution, and nobody doubts that Skyranger is very capable. The success of the Pard has been the best possible advertisement.

But unlike Ukraine, Germany is not attacked nocturnal and tries to collect as many weapons as possible to defend the country. If Germany is in a shooting war, the priorities can change very quickly. Just like in Ukraine, people and politicians can start screaming for the same amount of affordable counter-drone systems such as Sky Sentinel instead of a few high-end systems. By that time it can be too late.

In the meantime, there are plans for the ‘Golden dome”Program to protect the nation against drones long distance and ballistic and cruise rockets. Early signs are that it will be an assembly of refined, high -tech and expensive systems. Whether it has the lasting force to withstand golf after drones, is another matter.