BERLIN (Reuters) -The German government plans to order more than 600 Skyranger 30 short-range air defence systems from Rheinmetall before the end of the year, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday, citing defence ministry and industry sources.
The contract for the turret and vehicle, in this case the Boxer wheeled armoured vehicle manufactured jointly with the Franco-German defense company KNDS, is valued at more than nine billion euros ($10 billion), reported Handelsblatt.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius last week said Germany would initiate the procurement of several hundred Skyranger tanks in the coming months. So far, 19 have been ordered.
“I don’t want to talk about numbers,” said a German defence ministry spokesperson at regular government news conference in Berlin on Friday when asked about the order for 600 tanks.
Rheinmetall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rheinmetall’s Skyranger mobile air defence systems is specially developed to defend against low-flying objects.
Air defence has come into focus in Europe amid mounting concern that Russia could be behind a growing number of recent drone incursion in the airspace of Ukraine’s European allies.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
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(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Writing by Miranda Murray, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
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