Germany picks MBDA DefendAir anti-drone missile system to arm Skyranger 30 air defense system.

MBDA has signed a development and procurement contract with Germany’s BAAINBw for the new DefendAir anti drone missile, intended to arm Skyranger 30 air defence vehicles under the NNbS program. The move gives the Bundeswehr a purpose-built counter-drone effector and strengthens Germany’s role at the core of Europe’s layered air defence architecture.

On 11 November 2025, MBDA announced a contract with the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) for the development and initial procurement of the DefendAir anti-drone guided missile, a new effector designed specifically for counter-unmanned aircraft missions on the Skyranger 30 air defence vehicle. The missile will equip Skyranger 30 turrets fielded under the Nah und Nächstbereichsschutz (NNbS) short and very short range air defence project, which is being built around Rheinmetall’s mobile gun and missile system as a key component of Germany’s contribution to the European Sky Shield Initiative.
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DefendAir makes Skyranger 30 a more clearly layered platform, combining the 30 mm AHEAD gun for very short range quadcopters with an anti-drone missile able to counter mixed salvos of micro recon drones, FPV attack drones, and loitering munitions at several kilometres. (Picture source: Rheinmetall)

The contract with the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) provides that development and series production will be concentrated in Schrobenhausen, where MBDA has already started pre-contractual work in order to deliver the first systems as early as possible. DefendAir becomes a central element of the Near and Very Near Range Protection (NNbS) project, which is intended to give the German forces a protective bubble against low and slow threats close to deployed units. According to figures made public in Berlin, funding for development and initial missile batches stands at around 490 million euros, approved in autumn 2025, for a solution intended to equip Skyranger 30 vehicles by the end of the decade. Between 2023 and 2025, MBDA has already doubled its output of new missiles at group level and announces an additional 2.4 billion euros of investment between 2025 and 2029, which secures an ability to increase production in line with a context of high expenditure in guided munitions.

DefendAir is derived from the light Enforcer (ENFORCER) missile, already adopted by the Bundeswehr as an infantry support weapon. The airframe and part of the propulsion architecture of Enforcer (ENFORCER) are reused, but the missile receives a specific seeker for air defence and an additional booster that extends the engagement envelope. The compact system remains dimensioned for clustered integration on a turret: Skyranger 30 carries between nine and twelve missiles, in addition to its 30 x 173 mm gun firing AHEAD programmable ammunition. DefendAir is primarily aimed at class 1 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), targets under 150 kg operating at low altitude, ranging from modified commercial drones to light fixed-wing platforms and loitering munitions. The high-sensitivity radio frequency seeker combined with a fragmentation warhead allows interception of small objects with a low radar cross section, in an engagement window announced at about 5 to 6 km, beyond the practical anti-drone range of the Skyranger 30 gun, which remains around 2 km.

At air defence architecture level, DefendAir fits into MBDA’s broader portfolio alongside the Sky Warden modular counter-drone system, the Mistral family and the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM). The objective is to offer a continuum of effectors, from the programmable gun to the short-range missile, connected to a recognised air picture (RAP) and to a common operational picture (COP) shared at joint force level. Skyranger 30 turrets equipped with DefendAir can receive target designations from longer-range surveillance radars, from remote electro-optical sensors or from medium altitude long endurance (MALE) platforms in strategic surveillance. This reduces their own need to emit and helps maintain controlled emission conditions (EMCON) in an environment where anti-radiation weapons are present.

The arrival of DefendAir turns Skyranger 30 into a more clearly layered platform. The combination of the 30 mm gun with AHEAD ammunition, effective against quadcopters at very short range, and the anti-drone missile allows the system to handle salvos mixing reconnaissance micro-drones, first-person view (FPV) attack drones and loitering munitions engaged at several kilometres. Each vehicle has a substantial volume of fire, with nine to twelve missiles ready to launch and a theoretical ability to neutralise several dozen drones during a single engagement, according to the assessments released by the German Ministry of Defence. Coupled with the mobility of an 8x8 armoured chassis and a digitised fire-control system, this configuration gives mechanised brigades an air defence escort able to follow the pace of high-intensity operations, protecting both moving columns and fixed critical points, such as logistical depots or command centres.

For MBDA, DefendAir confirms a portfolio strategy that connects counter-drone systems with the upper layers of air defence. The Sky Warden solution, the Mistral family and the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM) already cover engagement envelopes from very low altitude out to intermediate ranges, while the VL MICA and Aster families take over for area defence. By adding a missile dedicated to light and low-cost targets, the company responds to a problem highlighted by the war in Ukraine, namely the rapid depletion of traditional surface-to-air missile stocks when these are used against inexpensive drones. DefendAir, conceived as a more economical effector, is intended to help preserve theatre-level missile stocks for high-value targets, while offering the forces a wider margin of action against proliferating aerial threats.

The German choice of DefendAir has a scope that goes beyond the Bundeswehr alone. By selecting a missile derived from an existing European programme, Berlin strengthens the capacity of the European defence industrial and technological base (BITD) to meet counter-drone requirements without relying on United States systems such as the FIM-92 Stinger, initially considered for Skyranger 30. The programme is fully in line with the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), which brings together an increasing number of allies around an integrated air and missile defence architecture. In an environment where tactical drones, militarised commercial swarms and loitering munitions alter the character of land warfare, the deployment of DefendAir on German Skyranger 30 vehicles is part of a broader movement in which Europe invests in a dedicated counter-drone layer, connected to its command and control networks and intended to play a role in the definition of NATO standards for the next generation of air threat countermeasures.