AFU will receive Frankenstein tanks armed with anti-aircraft guns based on Leopard 1
The AFU will receive Frankenstein anti-aircraft self-propelled guns - they will be produced by the German Rheinmetall in workshops in Ukraine. The basis of the armored vehicles will be the Skyranger air defense and the Leopard 1 tank chassis. Why the APU "anti-aircraft tanks" and how effective they can be, the military columnist of the Gazeta understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The German Rheinmetall concern plans to produce anti-aircraft self-propelled guns based on Skyranger air defense and Leopard 1 tank chassis in new workshops in Ukraine, Bild reported. According to The Telegraph, the tanks have already been named Frankenstein (Frankenstein) due to the fact that they are assembled from parts of different machines.
"There are still many Leopard 1 tanks left, on the chassis of which we could install a Skyranger turret with a 35 mm automatic cannon," said Bjorn Bernhard, head of Rheinmetall's ground systems department.
Air defense is more necessary than tanks
Why does Ukraine need "anti-aircraft tanks"? The fact is that during a special military operation, the leading edge, due to the operation of the engines of unmanned aerial vehicles, began to resemble a buzzing hive.
As a result of the massive use of drones and barrage ammunition (kamikaze drones), the combat formations of motorized rifle units have become discharged, in the vast majority of cases, infantry in small groups move in short dashes from cover to cover and avoid open space at the slightest opportunity.
Today, the amount of barrage ammunition allows the use of two or three drones per fighter, and armored combat vehicles (BMVS) have become the most priority targets, so the opposing sides do not spare drones for their destruction.
In some cases, armored vehicles are not helped by crating (so-called braziers), electronic warfare (EW), or dynamic protection. For these reasons, tanks in the SVO zone today are used, as a rule, only from closed firing positions and in the form of mobile firing points.
Therefore, air defense systems are much more in demand in the area of their own today than tanks. And the measures taken by Rheinmetall look quite logical.
Against Russian missiles and UAVs
Let's remind you what Skyranger is. This is a short-range turret air defense system developed by Rheinmetall Air Defense AG (formerly Oerlikon). Its role is to provide units of the ground forces with a mobile air defense system capable of hitting airplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles of various purposes, barrage ammunition and cruise missiles. At its core, the Skyranger is a rotating turret in which a 30 mm or 35 mm automatic cannon is mounted.
The gun fires programmable AHEAD projectiles, which are most effective for hitting small-sized air targets at a range of up to 3 km. The rate of fire of the 35 mm cannon reaches 1000 rounds per minute, and the effective range is 4000 m.
AHEAD (Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction) is the first munition for programmable (aerial) detonation of small-caliber artillery systems. A 35 mm high-explosive projectile contains 152 tungsten striking elements weighing 1.25 grams each, the ammunition opens in front of the target and forms a cone of fragments designed to hit the target with high probability.
Most importantly, the Skyranger is equipped with a multifunctional S-band radar (MFR) developed by Rheinmetall Italia. Five flat antennas placed around the tower provide an all-round view. The detection range of an aircraft with an effective scattering surface of 1 sq. The distance is more than 20 km, hovering helicopters - 12 km, cruise missiles - 10 km and UAV-type targets - 5 km.
For passive detection, the FIRST system (Fast InfraRed Search and Track - fast infrared search and tracking system), developed by Rheinmetall, is installed on the machine.
Leopard 1 tanks
Image source: Axel Heimken/dpa/Global Look Press
As for the chassis for mounting the Skyranger in the form of Leopard 1 tanks, it should be noted that this is a rather controversial decision. A wheeled version of such a complex (high cross-country capability) would be much more appropriate. This system would be much more mobile, and it would have a much larger chassis life. But Rheinmetall decided to attach Leopard 1 and give the APU a promising short-range air defense system.
First of all, the Skyranger in the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be focused on combating Russian air and sea-based cruise missiles (such as X-101/555, Kalibr-PL/NK) and Geran-2 unmanned aerial vehicles.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
