Rheinmetall to deploy its own air defense assets in Ukraine to protect future plant
German defense concern Rheinmetall is not planning to abandon the idea of building a new plant in Ukraine. Moreover, the company is ready to defend it with its own air defense equipment.
Rheinmetall has previously officially confirmed its plans to build a new armored vehicle manufacturing plant in Ukraine. Recently, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the company would become a “legitimate target for the Russian army.”
Following these words, Rheinmetall’s CEO said that the company would not abandon its plans to build the plant. Armin Papperger added that Rheinmetall’s main goal is to support its Ukrainian partners in the fight for freedom and democracy.
The concern wants to meet the urgent needs of the Ukrainian defense forces for armored vehicles. The company is expected to produce up to four hundred main battle tanks annually and will repair armored vehicles.
To protect the future military plant from Russian missiles, Rheinmetall is ready to deploy its own air defense systems. It is likely to be MANTIS anti-aircraft systems and Skynex self-propelled anti-aircraft systems. The latter went into production only two years ago.
The Skynex is equipped with a 35-mm Oerlikon Mk3 cannon that can fire at a range of 4 km. The rate of fire is 1000 rounds per minute. The system is designed to counter cruise missiles, drones and aircraft.
MANTIS, or Modular, Automatic and Network capable Targeting and Interception System, is an older development. Production began about 12 years ago. The system is a stationary short-range anti-aircraft artillery system for protection against artillery fire and missiles.
