A new “Frankenstein” air defence tank designed to shoot down Russian drones and missiles is to be supplied to Ukraine by a top German arms firm.

Rheinmetall has announced it will mount its state-of-the-art Skyranger anti-aircraft system on Cold War-era Leopard 1 tank hulls, creating a new vehicle to bolster Ukraine’s defences.

Weapons systems that are capable of dealing with short-range threats such as drone swarms and artillery fire are increasingly seen as crucial on the front line in Ukraine, in what has been called the first drone war.

“There are still many Leopard 1 main battle tanks on whose chassis we could mount the Skyranger turret with the 35 mm calibre automatic cannon,” Bjorn Bernhard, head of land systems at Rheinmetall, told Bild, a German newspaper.

Ukraine’s army has already received close to a hundred conventionally-configured Leopard 1 tanks.

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But Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly called for more support in the form of air defences, in the face of continuous Russian drone attacks that have ravaged the country’s energy sector.

Rheinmetall has only recently developed the Skyranger system, which boasts sophisticated sensors with 360-degree vision of the battlefield, capable of dealing with swarms of drones.

Mr Bernhard made his comments at a top secret workshop recently opened by Rheinmetall in western Ukraine, where the company is repairing German-made tanks that have been damaged on the front.

Back into action

By repairing the vehicles in Ukraine, the company hopes to cut the time it takes to get tanks back into action.

At first, only Marder armoured vehicles and the older version of the Leopard tank will be repaired at the factory. But the company has said that it wants to repair more modern Leopard 2 tanks inside Ukraine as well.

“We are planning for the long term in Ukraine,” Mr Bernhard. “We’re not just supplying equipment and then withdrawing – we’re showing that we’ll be there permanently and supporting Ukraine.”

The arms manufacturer’s business has been booming since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Last week it announced that it was hiring staff from the troubled car parts manufacturer Continental, which has slashed 7,000 jobs worldwide.

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