Should the South African Army (SA Army) chose to upgrade its anti-aircraft artillery, Swiss defence company Rheinmetall Air Defence (part of the German Rheinmetall group) has a proposal to include local content in such a project. Advances in technology mean that there is now a gap in the SA Army’s air defence capability.

The SA Army currently operates twin 35 mm air defence guns acquired from Rheinmetall ancestor company Oerlikon. Reportedly, the army acquired 169 of these guns, along with 75 Superfledermaus fire control units (FCUs) in 1963. In 1990, 48 of these Mark (Mk) I guns were upgraded to Mk V status and the Superfledermaus FCUs replaced by Italian LPD20 radars.

Since then, a whole new category of land-based air defence capability has emerged, which focuses on destroying not just aircraft, but on also destroying missiles, rockets, shells and bombs. It is known as C-RAM, for Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar. This is a spin-off from the anti-missile missiles and guns developed for naval warfare, and which have been in opera- tion on naval vessels for some 30 years.

The development of C-RAM systems was stimulated by the need of US-led Coalition forces in Iraq to defeat stand-off rocket and mortar attacks on their bases. The Phalanx naval anti- missile gun was successfully adapted for this role. Since then, other countries and companies have developed such systems. One of these companies is Rheinmetall Air Defence.

Meanwhile, the SA Army has a contingent assigned to the United Nations intervention brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is conceivable that rebel forces could fire rockets and mortars into South African bases. However, the SA Army currently has no C-RAM capability.

The Rheinmetall C-RAM system was devel- oped for use by the German Army in Afghani- stan, but has since been transferred to the Luftwaffe (air force). “Acquiring components of a proven system saves time and money and derisks the project,” highlighted company marketing VP Fabian Ochsner. The German system, called Mantis, uses single 35 mm Millennium revolver gun mounts.

The Rheinmetall system being offered to South Africa involves the latest version of the twin 35 mm gun, the Mk VII, the company’s latest ammunition type, the Ahead round, the Skyshield FCU and a command post (CP). “Small rockets and mortar bombs can be detected at 6 km.” (Each Ahead shell is composed of 152 tungsten spin-stabilised sub-projectiles, which, when released, form a cone-shaped metal cloud, placed so that the target, whether aircraft, missile or bomb, flies into it and is destroyed. Each shell knows when to detonate because its electronic timer is programmed by an electromagnetic inductor in the gun muzzles, as it leaves the barrel. These inductors are fitted to the Mk VII guns.)

The FCU and the Ahead ammunition would have to be supplied by Rheinmetall, and the Swiss company would have to be involved in upgrading South Africa’s current Mk V mounts to Mk VII status, due to the need to fit the induc- tors and related technologies. There is, however, still the CP. “In the CP, the are only two elements of OEM [original equipment manufacturer] design,” he reported. “All the rest could be local design. It could be an indigenous CP. You only need to integrate the operations panels for the Skyshield FCU. You could integrate South African systems, including Link ZA [the locally- developed South African military datalink]. The CP would be [almost] completely local.”

“To develop and field indigenous systems and interfaces support the programme with mini- mum risks,” he continued. “The involvement of trusted local partners optimises the programme and creates meaningful Dip [defence industrial participation].” Ochsner was speaking at the 2013 South African Joint Air Defence Sympo- sium. This was held at the CSIR International Convention Centres, in Pretoria.

Currently, the SA Army has a project, under what is called Gbads Phase II (Gbads: Ground based air defence system), to upgrade its Mk V guns to Mk VII standard, so that they can use the Ahead ammunition, and to acquire a new FCU (although which type has not yet been determined). However, there is as yet no project to develop and deploy a C-Ram system.