Rheinmetall, Diehl, and Hensoldt working group offers SHORAD and VSHORAD for Bundeswehr

The ARGE NNbS SHORAD and VSHORAD solution for the Bundeswehr includes mounting the IRIS-T air-defence system on Boxer (left) and Eagle (right) vehicles. (Diehl Defence/Hensoldt Sensors/Rheinmetall)

Rheinmetall Electronics, Diehl Defence, and Hensoldt Sensors presented the Nah- und Nächstbereichsschutz (NNbS) Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ARGE) short- and very short-range air defence (SHORAD and VSHORAD) working group's solution for the Bundeswehr during a briefing for German-speaking defence journalists in Bonn on 5 October.

Rheinmetall Electronics' Andree Hornhardt, speaker for the ARGE NNbS operational management, pointed to the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine as examples of ground forces, as well as civilians being subjected to attack by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft with stand-off weapons; cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles; artillery rockets and shells; and increasingly by unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and loitering munition.

Announced in March 2021, ARGE NNbS intends to fill the capability gap in the protection of German ground troops, command posts, and other facilities against short- and very short-range aerial threats during national and alliance overseas and evacuation operations. The three companies are offering a solution based on available low-risk components that are modular and networked within an NNbS system connected with the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System, and integrating the Modular, Automatic, and Network-capable Targeting and Interception System (MANTIS); the counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system; and the Leichtes Flugabwehrsystem (LeFlaSys) air-portable air-defence system across all branches and services of the Bundeswehr. The system will have a modular design with radar sensors of different ranges, electro-optical sensors, short- and medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and a C-RAM capability. Hornhardt said modularity would have the added benefit of future-proofing NNbS.