Breaking News
Italy Inducts First Rheinmetall Skynex Short-Range Air Defense System to Counter Drone Threats.
Italy has taken delivery of its first Skynex short-range air defense system from Rheinmetall, marking the system’s operational debut within NATO. The move strengthens Italy’s ability to counter drones and low-flying missiles at close range, reflecting battlefield lessons emerging from recent conflicts in Europe.
On 23 December 2025, Rheinmetall announced that it had handed over the first Skynex short-range air defense system to the Italian Army, following a ceremony on 18 December at the Comando Artiglieria Controaerei base in Sabaudia. The delivery, under a €73 million contract awarded in January 2025, marks the introduction in Italy of a new generation of networked, gun-based air defense. As the first NATO member to field Skynex in a configuration combining the 35 mm Revolver Gun Mk3 with the XTAR 3D radar, Italy is signalling its intent to reinforce close-in protection against drones and low-flying missiles. This first battery gives the Italian Army a dedicated capability to shield critical infrastructure and deployed forces at close and very close range at a time when drone warfare, illustrated daily in Ukraine, is reshaping modern operations.
Italy has brought its first Rheinmetall Skynex short-range air defense system into service, giving the Italian Army a new NATO-first capability to counter drones and low-flying aerial threats at close range (Picture Source: Rheinmetall)
At the heart of the new Italian capability lies Rheinmetall’s Skynex architecture, a short-range air defense system structured around the Oerlikon Skymaster battle management system. Skymaster fuses data from multiple sensors, most notably the X-TAR3D X-band radar, which generates a three-dimensional air picture with instrumented ranges of up to 50 km and can classify targets ranging from conventional aircraft to very small unmanned systems and rockets. In a typical configuration, one Skynex fire unit combines a command-and-control node, an X-TAR3D radar and up to four 35 mm Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk3 effectors positioned around the site to be defended. Each Revolver Gun Mk3 delivers a rate of fire of around 1,000 rounds per minute with an effective range of roughly 4 km against low and very low-altitude threats.
The guns fire AHEAD programmable air-burst ammunition, which opens in front of the target and releases a dense cloud of sub-projectiles, effectively creating a fragment “wall” that is difficult to defeat through manoeuvre or electronic countermeasures. Compared with surface-to-air missiles, this ammunition offers a much lower cost per engagement, a key parameter for counter-UAS and C-RAM missions where defenders may face frequent, repetitive attacks by inexpensive drones, rockets or loitering munitions.
The handover to Italy represents a major step in a programme launched only in January 2025, when Rheinmetall Italia S.p.A. received an initial order for one Skynex system valued at €73 million, with an option for three additional systems worth €204 million, bringing the potential total close to €280 million. The initial system was originally expected around the second quarter of 2026, but the delivery of the first battery in December 2025 shows that the industrial and military partners have accelerated the schedule in response to the urgency surrounding short-range air defense in Europe.
Operational experience from Ukraine already plays a central role in this choice: Skynex batteries supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces have been deployed to protect cities, logistics hubs and energy infrastructure against Shahed-type drones and Russian cruise missiles such as Kh-101 and Kalibr, providing live feedback on performance in high-intensity combat. In parallel, Romania has selected the Skynex architecture and is pairing it with GDF-009 twin guns already in service, so Italy is joining a small but growing circle of users that are basing their SHORAD modernisation on Rheinmetall’s gun-centric solution.
Skynex is designed to plug the gap between medium- and long-range missile systems and very short-range man-portable weapons. By separating airspace surveillance from the effectors, the architecture allows radars, guns and any additional launchers to be dispersed while remaining closely linked through the command-and-control network. For the Italian Army, which is modernising its ground-based air defense with systems such as SAMP/T NG at the medium range and the GRIFO system with CAMM-ER missiles for SHORAD, Skynex offers a dedicated, close-in layer optimised for low-cost interception of drones, cruise missiles and indirect-fire threats in the immediate vicinity of key bases, ports, airfields and manoeuvre formations.
Units under the Comando Artiglieria Controaerei in Sabaudia, including SHORAD regiments such as the 17° Reggimento Artiglieria Controaerei “Sforzesca”, will be able over time to integrate gun, missile and sensor assets into a more coherent layered defence. The use of programmable 35 mm ammunition provides the ability to engage small, fast and low-observable aerial targets that can challenge traditional missile seekers, while the high rate of fire and rapid slewing of the Revolver Gun Mk3 give batteries the capacity to deal with multi-axis or swarm attacks. Because the Skynex architecture is open, additional effectors, such as missile launchers, legacy Skyshield and Skyguard units or future high-energy laser systems, can be incorporated as the threat spectrum evolves.
The Italian programme matters for Rheinmetall and for NATO’s broader air-defense posture. Rheinmetall underscores Italy as a strategically important ally within the Alliance and views this order as a pivotal step toward setting a new standard for cannon-based air defense. If Rome opts for three more systems, the Italian Army could field up to four Skynex fire units across multiple regiments, blending homeland-defense duties with the protection of deployed forces and high-value assets.
This would help establish a national network of short-range coverage designed to integrate with allied systems during NATO operations, especially as the Alliance strengthens defenses against missile and drone threats to ports, logistics hubs, and command nodes. On the industrial side, the programme reinforces Rheinmetall’s long-standing presence in Italy and aligns with other cooperative efforts, including the GRIFO system, where X-TAR3D radars already play a central role. For NATO partners watching the Ukraine conflict and reassessing short-range air-defense needs, Italy’s choice of a gun-based, networked SHORAD layer offers a concrete example of balancing affordability, modularity, and combat-proven capability in response to drones and low-cost threats.
This first Skynex battery isn’t just a new gadget for the Italian Army. It signals a bigger shift toward layered, networked air defense that’s affordable over the long term, especially in a world full of drones and long-range precision weapons. Should Italy confirm the three additional systems, Skynex would become one of the pillars of the country’s ground-based air-defense architecture, sitting alongside SAMP/T NG and GRIFO and offering a close-in shield tailored to high-volume, low-cost threats. The fact that the system is already demonstrating its effectiveness in wartime conditions in Ukraine lends additional credibility to Rome’s investment and underscores a wider lesson for European armed forces: gun-based solutions, integrated into modern command-and-control networks, will remain essential complements to missile and future directed-energy systems in protecting forces and territory against the full spectrum of airborne attacks.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.