Israeli drone defence for German warships?

The Israeli defence companies Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems offer an integrated solution to protect surface units against attacks by armed drones.

The German Navy's combat ships could also benefit from this, as Germany is endeavouring to improve its navy's own protection against drones. This is urgently needed against the backdrop of a significant increase in suspicious drone activity over military and critical infrastructure. It also arises from the experience of war in Ukraine and especially in the Red Sea, where the Houthi rebels are now successfully using swarms of drones against ships.

As technology and tactics continue to evolve in drone warfare, multi-pronged approaches are complicating defence measures for naval and merchant vessels. Improvements in stealth, swarm behaviour and payload also mean that drone risk continues to increase. With relatively low costs and the disposable nature of drones, multi-million dollar air defence missiles or expensive naval operations such as Aspides and Prosperity Guardian are therefore not sustainable in the long term.

The state-owned company Rafael has offered the German Navy to install its C-Dome system, the naval version of the battle-proven Iron Dome, in combination with a TYPHOON 30 mm automatic cannon on its combat ships, according to defence-network. This system fires NATO-standard ammunition and can engage several small and medium-sized drones simultaneously with a single ammunition load (up to 380 rounds).
Elbit Systems Deutschland - originally a Telefunken company founded in Ulm in 1903 - also offers a special version of its Electronic Warfare system that neutralises such threats with soft-kill technology.

It remains to be hoped that the corresponding negotiations between the Israeli companies and Germany will not be stopped by the Israeli government as a tit-for-tat response. This is because the German Navy has so far mainly relied on the RAM missile system, which was developed to intercept missiles but not to combat small and mobile drones and therefore has weaknesses and is much more expensive in comparison.

kdk, defence-network