German Rheinmetall arms manufacturer issued a press release on Tuesday, May 28, stating that a European country has made an order to supply 35 mm AHEAD ammunition for the Skynex air defense systems. It is about an order worth hundreds of millions of euros, within the framework of which a "six-digit number of cartridges" should be delivered. It is about hundreds of thousands of shells.
"The Skynex system strengthens the protection of the customer country's armed forces against threats from the air," Rheinmetall stated. Most likely, it is about the supply of ammunition for Ukraine, because the Skynex systems currently in service only with the Ukrainian army.
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"The use of programmable 35mm AHEAD ammunition, as developed by Rheinmetall for this purpose (short range air defense), is considerably cheaper than comparable guided missile-based systems. In addition, it is not possible to influence or even deflect the 35mm ammunition by electronic countermeasures after firing," the statement reads.
It should be noted that, in April of 2024, the German government officially announced the transfer to Ukraine of the second Skynex battery that is designed to destroy Shahed attack drones and cruise missiles at a distance of up to 3 km with a rate of fire of 1,000 rpm. It includes four 35-mm Revolver Gun Mk3, an X-TAR3D radar and a command post.
In addition, a day earlier, Rheinmetall published a press release, which may also apply to Ukraine. We are talking about L52 barrels for the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer.
As the company notes, it is about a three-digit number of barrels that will be delivered from 2024 to 2029: "The delivery is part of a massive growth programme in barrel and weapons production that Rheinmetall is currently implementing in order to meet the increased demand in the future," the statement reads.
Earlier Defense Express reported that the Netherlands had offered multiple countries to assemble a Patriot for Ukraine piece by piece.
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