Rheinmetall Air Defence: Ahead - Highly effective, programmable ammunition

Rheinmetall – Der integrierte Technologiekonzern · 17.2M views · 2020-08-14 · 1:02

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A one-minute Rheinmetall promotional demo of Oerlikon Ahead air burst ammunition, which throws a cloud of sub-projectiles to destroy small air targets.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as an example of programmable airburst ammunition used against drones and fast aircraft.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2021–2025

Topics

Military history & warfare Robotics

What people said

Beijinger · 2025-09 · Reference
? You would not be able to hit a drone with a bullet. Statistics are against you. You use fancy AHEAD ammunition that disintegrates, and hopefully the drone with it. [LINK] Yet, the bursts fired are expensive as fuck. Much more expensive than the drone. Here you go: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

saiya-jin · 2023-09 · Reference
There are some automated AA guns (Oerlikon or Rheinmetall IIRC) who lock with combination of radar and visual, or just one of those. No locking missiles, just good old ammunition and 21st century computing power. Well not precisely, every round is primed to detonate at exact altitude/flight duration. Put a hundred rounds in few seconds (so 5-10k projectiles) on the sky where the plane will be in 3 seconds, they will create basically impenetrable cloud and yes you can quite easily shoot down F35 flying during day flying low enough just by visual lock. One example: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

imtringued · 2021-06 · Reference
How do you "dodge" airburst ammunition? Can your drone instantaneously change direction at the speed of an explosion? What the hell am I reading here? [VIDEO] Edit: Look they even made a smaller system! [LINK]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Rheinmetall – Der integrierte Technologiekonzern , played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks

SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources