Rheinmetall has delivered the first Skynex short-range air defense (SHORAD) system to the Italian Army, following a handover ceremony held on 18 December at the Comando Artiglieria Controaerei base in Sabaudia. The delivery, made under a €73 million contract awarded in January 2025, marks Italy’s introduction of a new generation of networked, gun-based air defense systems.
As the first NATO member to field Skynex in a configuration combining the 35 mm Revolver Gun Mk3 with the X-TAR3D radar, Italy is reinforcing its close-range protection against drones, cruise missiles, and other low-altitude threats. The initial battery provides the Italian Army with a dedicated capability to defend critical infrastructure and deployed forces at close and very close ranges, reflecting lessons drawn from the widespread use of unmanned systems in modern conflicts, particularly in Ukraine.
The core of Italy’s new SHORAD capability is Rheinmetall’s Skynex architecture, built around the Oerlikon Skymaster battle management system. Skymaster integrates data from multiple sensors, primarily the X-TAR3D X-band radar, which produces a three-dimensional air picture with instrumented ranges of up to 50 kilometers. The radar can detect and classify targets ranging from conventional aircraft to small unmanned aerial systems and rockets.
A typical Skynex fire unit consists of a command-and-control element, one X-TAR3D radar, and up to four 35 mm Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk3 systems deployed around the protected site. Each gun offers a rate of fire of approximately 1,000 rounds per minute and an effective engagement range of about 4 kilometers against low- and very-low-altitude threats.
The Revolver Gun Mk3 fires AHEAD programmable airburst ammunition, which detonates ahead of the target and releases a dense cloud of sub-projectiles, creating a lethal fragmentation barrier that is difficult to evade through maneuver or electronic countermeasures. Compared with surface-to-air missiles, this approach offers a significantly lower cost per engagement, a critical advantage in counter-UAS and counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions involving frequent attacks by low-cost threats.
The delivery represents a major milestone in a program launched only in January 2025, when Rheinmetall Italia S.p.A. received the initial €73 million order for one Skynex system, along with options for three additional systems valued at €204 million. This brings the potential total program value close to €280 million. Although the first system was originally expected in the second quarter of 2026, the December 2025 handover indicates an accelerated schedule driven by the growing urgency of SHORAD requirements in Europe.
Operational experience from Ukraine has strongly influenced Italy’s decision. Skynex systems supplied to Ukrainian forces have been used to defend cities, logistics nodes, and energy infrastructure against Shahed-type drones and cruise missiles such as the Kh-101 and Kalibr, providing valuable real-world performance data. Romania has also selected the Skynex architecture, pairing it with GDF-009 twin guns already in service, placing Italy among a small but expanding group of European users adopting Rheinmetall’s gun-centric SHORAD solution.
