Rheinmetall to deploy its own air defences in Ukraine to protect future plant

German defence concern Rheinmetall does not plan to give up the idea of building a new plant in Ukraine. Moreover, the company is ready to protect it with its own air defence equipment.

Here's What We Know

Rheinmetall has previously officially confirmed plans to build a new plant for the production of armoured vehicles in Ukraine. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, recently said that the plant would be a "legitimate target for the Russian army."

Following these words, the CEO of Rheinmetall said that the company will not abandon plans to build the plant. Armin Papperger added that for Rheinmetall the 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 defence forces for armoured vehicles. It is expected that the company will be able to produce up to four hundred main battle tanks annually and will repair armoured vehicles.

To protect the future military plant from Russian missiles, Rheinmetall is ready to deploy its own air defence equipment. Probably we are talking about MANTIS anti-aircraft systems and Skynex self-propelled anti-aircraft systems. The latter went into production only two years ago.

Skynex is equipped with a 35 mm Oerlikon Mk3 cannon, which can fire at a range of 4 km. Its rate of fire is 1,000 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 fixed short-range anti-aircraft artillery system for defence against artillery fire and missiles.

Source: BILD