Skyshield 35 Ahead Air Defence System
Successful firing against very small targets
08/11/2004
China Lake, July 13, 2004: To verify the performance of the Oerlikon Contraves' Skyshield 35 Ahead Fire Unit – against small targets, a live firing was carried out by the US Army with their Skyshield system at the China Lake firing range in California. The firing was a spectacular success: two unmanned air vehicles as targets, two Ahead fire bursts, two multiple hits on target. Each of the unmanned air vehicles was knocked out of the sky and completely destroyed.
The Skyshield 35 Ahead Air Defence System, built by Oerlikon Contraves – a subsidiary of the Rheinmetall DeTec group –, provides a highly advanced and effective means of air defence. It is of a small, lightweight and compact design. The major elements of a fire unit are a fire control unit and two 35/1000 revolver guns.
The System provides reliable defence against the threat from small, mass-produced, cheap and low-flying targets. The unique 35mm Air Burst Ammunition Ahead destroys the target by multiple impacts of heavy metal, spin-stabilized sub-projectiles. Each 35 mm Ahead shell contains a payload of 152 sub-projectiles, which are ejected just ahead of the incoming target, triggered by a precision programmable time fuse.
A short burst of 35 mm Ahead ammunition produces a cloud of lethal sub-projectiles, resulting in sustained saturation of the anticipated target position. The sub-projectiles are fully capable of penetrating the skin of current and anticipated future targets, while still inflicting enough damage on the attacking target, e.g. unmanned air vehicles, to keep them from achieving their mission.
Contact
Rheinmetall AG
Corporate Sector Defence
Press and Information
Oliver Hoffmann
Rheinmetall Platz 1
40476 Düsseldorf
Germany
Phone: +49 211 473-4748
Fax: +49 211 473-4157
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