Slovenia arms Patria 8×8 vehicle with anti-drone turret

Slovenia’s Valhalla Turrets unveiled the MANGART 25 AD short-range air defense turret in its most operationally significant configuration yet, presenting the system integrated on a Patria 8×8 wheeled armored vehicle during a ceremony marking the Slovenian Armed Forces Air Defence Regiment’s 35th anniversary.

The company announced the milestone on Friday, describing it as the first official presentation of the MANGART 25 AD on the Patria platform. The Patria 8×8 is a NATO-standard protected wheeled chassis used by multiple allied armies, and integrating a purpose-built SHORAD turret onto it signals that Valhalla is positioning the MANGART as a deployable, mobile air defense solution — not a static ground installation.

The MANGART 25 AD is built around the Northrop Grumman M242 Bushmaster, a 25×137 mm autocannon with dual-feed capability and a well-established service record across Western militaries. The turret carries 400 ready rounds split across two feed systems — 210 in one, 190 in the other — and is qualified for proximity fuze munition, which is the capability that transforms a conventional autocannon into a credible counter-drone and counter-air platform. Against small drones, helicopters, or low-flying aircraft, a proximity fuze doesn’t require a direct hit to be lethal. Alternatives to the Bushmaster include the KNDS M811 and the Rheinmetall KBA, both chambered in the same caliber, giving customers flexibility in ammunition logistics and supply chain sourcing.

What makes the MANGART technically competitive with more expensive Western SHORAD offerings is the sensor and network package built into the turret itself. The system integrates an active electronically scanned array radar, AESA, alongside a meteorological station and an Identification Friend or Foe system. The gunner’s electro-optical suite pairs a day camera and thermal sensor with a laser rangefinder, all stabilized on two axes. The main turret stabilization operates on a four-axis servo system, and the fire control relies on automatic video tracking. In practical shooting terms, the azimuth and elevation drive exceeds one radian per second — fast enough to track fast-moving aerial threats — with aiming accuracy held below 0.7 milliradians. Elevation range runs from minus 15 degrees to plus 85 degrees, giving the turret a ceiling well into low-altitude airspace where drones, cruise missiles, and rotary-wing aircraft operate.

The MANGART’s dimensions tell a compact story: 2,296 mm wide, 2,643 mm long, 770 mm tall, with a battle weight of 2,200 kilograms depending on configuration. The swing radius of 2,965 mm keeps the system within the footprint of the Patria hull without overhanging dangerously in confined terrain. Ballistic protection for critical components meets STANAG 4569 Level 1, and the electromagnetic compatibility standard is MIL-STD-461G — the U.S. military specification for electromagnetic interference, ensuring the turret can operate in densely contested electromagnetic environments without generating interference that would compromise the vehicle’s other systems. An upgrade path exists for dual 76 mm smoke grenade launchers, adding a self-protection layer against both optical and infrared threats.

The full C2 connectivity built into the MANGART positions it for networked air defense operations — the kind of integrated, sensor-linked battlespace that NATO members have been racing to construct since the war in Ukraine demonstrated how saturation drone attacks and cruise missile salvos can overwhelm point defense systems operating in isolation. A turret that can receive targeting data from a ground-based radar, a connected air picture, or a higher-level command node and engage autonomously, or pass that picture to another node, is a fundamentally different proposition than a self-contained gun system that sees only what’s in front of it.

Valhalla Turrets is a Slovenian company specializing in remote-controlled weapon systems, and the MANGART represents its push into the SHORAD tier at a moment when that market has rarely been more active. European NATO members are scrambling to rebuild air defense depth that atrophied through decades of post-Cold War disinvestment, and the demand for mobile, affordable, and maintainable short-range air defense is outpacing what the largest defense primes can supply alone. A Slovenian-built turret on a Finnish-designed chassis, presented at the anniversary of an allied air defense regiment, is a snapshot of how European defense industrial collaboration is quietly reshaping who supplies what to whom.