If there aren’t many, they could use attack helicopters with their swivel guns. Fly above, check if nothing important is below / behind the drone, then shoot.

This is where I think there will be a need for laser based weaponry. Tracking a moving target isn’t hard. Predicting it’s position when the bullet / missile arrives is the hard bit. So lasers don’t really miss. Cost per shot is low so intercepting cheap drones is not an issue.

Biggest problem is mobility, but I think I’ve read articles about a version dragged around behind a Land Rover.

The army division doing air defence was completely dismantled in 2012, with the missile-based systems (Ozelot) going to the air force, those shoot stingers. The Gepards are now Ukraine and are eating drones for breakfast on the cheap, but, well, they’re not in Germany. Rebuilding of that capability won’t happen before 2028. But yes the answer is air-burst munitions, I don’t think lasers are quite there yet. EW makes sense for commercial drones but military ones probably won’t be impressed.

Skynex

I’m very much interested in what they intend to use to shoot the drones. Missiles? Way to expensive.

Well, if we’re talking about a policing role, it may be fine.

In war, if Country A and Country B are arm-wrestling, and Country A can launch a drone that costs a tenth of what Country B’s missiles do, you can probably guess that Country A is going to keep sending drones, because that’s a pretty favorable exchange. Gotta worry about what happens if it scales up.

But if we’re talking a policing role and don’t expect hundreds or thousands of drones to be sent out – like, the aim is countering espionage or sabotage – that might be okay.

Now, granted, one possibility is that someone might try to figure out a way to send large numbers of drones to do the above, but then that starts to stand out. I think that the current situation is probably more of one where the concern is that malicious drone operators are trying to hide in the noise created by benign drone operators. We don’t easily know whether a given drone is just some random person flying a drone where it shouldn’t be, or whether it’s someone trying to gather intelligence. But if spies start launching a hundred drones at a go, it’s going to be pretty obvious that it’s not just some random person making a mistake.

EDIT:

Not sure the Bundeswehr got any and if not it’ll take fives years of debate if this is technology we actually need and another ten to procure the necessary equipment.

I remember just reading about some kind of programmable-airburst SPAAG that Germany’s sending Ukraine, think it was on a Boxer chassis. Assuming that Germany isn’t sending every one of those that they have, they probably have some to stick around sensitive areas of their own.

kagis

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/ukraine-is-likely-to-receive-boxer-infantry-fighting-vehicles/

The Boxer RCT30 combat module combines the unmanned turret from KNDS Germany with the proven Boxer control module from ARTEC – a joint venture between Rheinmetall and KNDS Germany. The module is armed with the MK 30-2/ABM 30×173 mm stabilized automatic cannon from Rheinmetall. It provides accurate engagement of moving targets both on the ground and in motion.

The German army intends to purchase about 150 systems of this type, and the Netherlands – 72 systems.

The vehicle also has a landing compartment that can accommodate up to six fully equipped infantrymen. However, as the publication notes, the name “command support vehicle” may indicate that these combat vehicles will not be used as an infantry fighting vehicle, but can be used to protect the RCH 155 self-propelled howitzers from drones.

https://www.rheinmetall.com/Rheinmetall Group/brochure-download/Weapon-Ammmunition/B305e0424-MK30-2-ABM-automatic-cannon.pdf

Within a range up to 3,000 metres the MK30-2/ABM delivers maximum effectiveness against land-, air- and sea targets.

So if you plonk one of those in the middle of a military base or whatever, you’ve got a sphere of something like 3km radius.

looks further

It also looks like there’s some fancier thing that has both a gun and missiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyranger_30

The Skyranger 30 is a short range air defense turret system developed by Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (formerly Oerlikon) and first revealed in March 2021. Its role is to provide ground units with a mobile system capable of engaging fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, Group I and II unmanned aerial systems (UAS), loitering munitions and cruise missiles.[1][2]

Assuming that the “Group I” here is the same as the US classification scheme for UASes and Germany isn’t doing some unrelated-but-similarly-named classification system, it’s intended for use against fairly small drones:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#Terminology

Group 1: Max take-off weight: < 20 lb (9.1 kg)

Group 2: Max take-off weight: > 20 & < 55

Minigun, obviously

Do those nets I’ve seen deployed against drones in videos not work well in practice? It seems like the least dangerous way to get it to the ground, short of hacking it.