Rheinmetall Air Defence AG is a division of German armament manufacturer

Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...

, created when the company's Oerlikon Contraves unit was renamed on 1 January 2009 and integrated with Rheinmetall's other air-defence products. Oerlikon Contraves was a Swiss

anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

manufacturer famous for its adaptation of the 1916 20 mm Becker as the

Oerlikon 20 mm The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bul ...

design, which was used in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and still in use today. Copies and derivatives of these designs were made by German, French, British and Japanese weapon manufacturers. Oerlikon Contraves was purchased by

in 1999. , Rheinmetall Air Defence had around 1,050 employees at locations in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Canada. The group's sales were about .

History

Oerlikon's earliest predecessor was Schweizerische Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon, founded in the Oerlikon district of Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1906. In 1923 it acquired a factory in Germany. It entered the anti-aircraft defence field in 1924. In 1936, it founded a purely anti-aircraft development company called Contraves (''contra aves'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "against birds", better translated as "anti-flying-objects") In 1989, the Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon-Bührle and Contraves merged to form the Oerlikon-Contraves Group, later renamed Oerlikon Contraves Defence. Oerlikon Contraves was purchased by

, a German armament manufacturer, in 1999, and renamed Rheinmetall Air Defence AG on 1 January 2009.

Historic products

American versions of the

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models em ...

, such as the Mk 4, Mk 10, and Mk 24, were used extensively from World War II to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. As

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

weapons used by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, they were frequently the last line of defence against

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending ...

attacks. Most combat ships from

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s to PT boats were equipped with Oerlikon guns. During the Vietnam War they were widely employed by

riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

forces as

anti-personnel weapon An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles ga ...

s. They remained in service until the 1970s, when they were replaced by the Mk 16 20 mm cannon. Oerlikon also developed the following

surface-to-air missiles A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft sys ...

: the RSA Missile, the RSD 58, and the Kriens RSC Missile. Oerlikons 20mm cannon was frequently used on Naval Ships throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

Products

Rheinmetall Air Defence specializes in ground-based and naval air defence. Their products include search-and-tracking sensors, 35 mm air-defence guns, command-and-control posts, battle management and ship-based combat systems. Boxer Skyranger 30 ILA-2022

Naval systems

*Search and Acquisition Radar: Oerlikon X-TAR3D/M *Radar and Electro Optical Tracking Modules: Oerlikon TMX/EO NT and Oerlikon TMX/EO Mk2 *Naval Gun Systems:

Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium Gun The Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium Gun or Rheinmetall GDM-008 is a close-in weapon system designed by Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (formerly known as Oerlikon Contraves) for mounting on ships. It is based on the 35/1000 revolver gun land-based ai ...

*Command and Control:

Oerlikon Seaguard Command and Control Console Oerlikon may refer to: Companies *OC Oerlikon (former ''Unaxis''), a Swiss technology conglomerate, or one of its business units: ** Oerlikon Solar ** Oerlikon Balzers ** Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum * Oerlikon-Bührle, a company in Zürich, Switzerl ...

and Oerlikon Weapon Control Module

Ground-based air defence

*Ground Based Air Defence Unit: Oerlikon Skyshield * Mobile Air Defence: Oerlikon Skyranger 30 and Skyranger 35 * Oerlikon GDF 35 mm caliber twin cannon * Oerlikon KBA 25 mm automatic cannon * Air Defence Anti-Tank System * LLM01 laser light module for firearms * Mosquito (missile)

Civilian products

Oerlikon Contraves subsidiary Oerlikon Transtec manufactured railcar and locomotive systems, including locomotive brakes, subway and electric train power conversion systems, and other subsidiary systems for mass-transit vehicles. , Rheinmetall's website no longer lists these products as part of the Air Defence group.

Corruption charges

Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD) is one of six companies that were blacklisted by

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

in March 2012 for their involvement in a bribery scandal. The companies are accused of bribing the Director General of

Ordnance Factories Board Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gove ...

(OFB), Sudipta Ghosh. RAD and the other firms have been barred from any dealings with the OFB and all other Indian defence companies, as well as being blacklisted from participating in any Indian defence contract, for a period of 10 years. RAD has claimed that the charges against it are without merit. Rheinmetall Air Defence was implicated in a corruption case in India along with arms dealer Abhishek Verma and his wife

Anca Verma Anca Verma (née Neacșu, born 8 August 1987) is the Romanian supermodel, businesswoman and wife of arms dealer Abhishek Verma. Career Verma graduated from the University of Galați with a master's degree in engineering. After leaving modell ...

lodged by anti-corruption agency of India, the CBI in 2012 for bribing defence officials for securing multi billion dollar weapons contracts of the Indian military establishment. RAD Chairman Bodo Garbe and General Manager Gerhard Hoy were issued summons of the Indian courts. Subsequently a red-corner notice was issued for their detention through

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

. The case at present is under trial in Indian courts.

References

* Air Force Center "Fliegermuseum Dübendorf" * Hugo Schneider: ''Armament and equipment of the Swiss Army since 1817: light and medium anti-aircraft air defence anti-aircraft missiles, Volume 12 of armament and equipment of the Swiss Army since 1817'', Author Publisher Stocker-Schmidt, 1982

External links

Rheinmetall-DeTec
parent company
Official site
{{Authority control Firearm manufacturers of Switzerland Rheinmetall fi:Oerlikon