German Concern Rheinmetall to Supply Ukraine with Upgraded Frankenstein Air Defence Tank System
A new tank equipped with the Frankenstein air defence system, designed to destroy Russian drones and missiles, will be delivered to Ukraine by the leading German arms company Rheinmetall. The state-of-the-art guns will be attached to tank hulls to combat massive attacks by drones and Russian missiles.
Rheinmetall has announced that it is installing its state-of-the-art Skyranger anti-aircraft system on the hulls of Cold War-era Leopard 1 tanks, essentially creating a new vehicle to bolster Ukraine's defence.
Rheinmetall has only recently developed the Skyranger system. It boasts sophisticated sensors with a 360-degree view of the battlefield, allowing it to fight swarms of drones.
Such weapons systems are capable of countering short-range threats such as drones and artillery fire. They are increasingly seen as crucial on the front lines in Ukraine in what is being called the first drone war.
"There are still many Leopard 1 main battle tanks on whose chassis we could mount a Skyranger turret with a 35mm automatic cannon," Bjorn Bernhard, head of ground systems at Rheinmetall, told German newspaper Bild.
The Ukrainian army has already received about a hundred Leopard 1 tanks from Germany as standard.
As previously reported, the first armoured vehicle repair and production workshop has started operating in Ukraine as part of a joint venture between German defence giant Rheinmetall and Ukrainian defence conglomerate Ukroboronprom.