Drones change how wars are fought every single day. If your military hardware cannot shoot down an inexpensive quadcopter while moving across rough terrain, you are basically operating outdated equipment.
Armies around the world are waking up to this brutal reality. That is why defense officials from thirty-one nations using Kongsberg’s remote weapon systems recently converged on the rugged Wichlen shooting range in Switzerland for the sixteenth annual Protector Users Working Group. Co-hosted by armasuisse, Switzerland's defense procurement agency, the three-day gathering was not a standard indoor conference filled with boring slide decks. It was a massive live-fire demonstration showing how armored vehicles handle modern battlefield threats. Building on this topic, you can also read: Why The Global Split Over Artificial Intelligence Changes Everything You Know About Tech Dominance.
Switzerland didn't land this high-profile event by accident. The nation has operated Kongsberg systems for over fifteen years, fielding upwards of 750 units primarily on armored wheeled vehicles built by GDELS-Mowag. When you need a reliable testing ground that understands long-term military hardware maintenance, the Swiss Alps make total sense.
What Actually Happened at the Wichlen Range
More than three hundred industry experts, military operators, and defense contractors watched live demonstrations of weapon stations engaging both ground targets and fast-moving aerial threats. The star of the show was the integration capability. Analysts at Engadget have also weighed in on this matter.
Kongsberg showcased its Integrated Combat Solution, which acts as the digital nervous system for modern combat vehicles. Instead of operating in isolation, crews can network their systems together, share targeting data instantly, and coordinate attacks across multiple platforms in real-time.
The vehicle lineup on the Swiss range included several serious configurations:
- A Hybrid Eagle 4x4 fitted with a CROWS weapon station.
- An Autonomous Eagle 4x4 running the Protector RS4.
- A Swiss Armed Forces Pionier Panzer equipped with the RS4.
- An Eagle 6x6 mounting the RS6.
- A Piranha IV carrying the heavy Protector MCT-30 turret.
Counter-drone setups stole most of the attention. Contractors integrated the MCT-30 turret with a 30x173mm cannon and Echoshield radar. Others paired the RS6 with a Northrop Grumman XM914 cannon, while the lightweight RS4 mounted an M134 minigun alongside a Kongsberg DR100 radar.
Why Counter-UAS Tech Changed Everything
Fifteen years ago, when many militaries first adopted these remote weapon stations, the primary design goal was keeping soldiers protected inside the vehicle hull while dealing with improvised explosive devices and standard infantry ambush tactics. Drones were mostly expensive, high-altitude surveillance tools used by major intelligence agencies.
Today, cheap commercial drones carrying explosives dictate frontline tactics in active combat zones like Ukraine. Operational lessons straight from those modern battlefields dominated the conference discussions. Equipment reliability under grueling conditions is non-negotiable. If a remote weapon station jams or loses its tracking lock when a drone dives toward the vehicle at fifty miles per hour, the crew is in deep trouble.
Lieutenant General Benedikt Roos, chief of the Swiss Armed Forces, pointed out that modern defense relies entirely on cross-system interoperability. You cannot afford stovepiped technologies anymore.
Virtual Training Before Live Fire
Operators also spent time testing the Protector CORE training system. This setup uses a digital recreation of the exact Wichlen training area. Operators use real physical controls inside a virtual environment to practice target acquisition and vehicle coordination before stepping foot onto a live firing range.
Simulators save millions of dollars in ammunition and vehicle wear. More importantly, they expose procedural flaws in crew coordination before those mistakes happen under live fire.
The annual working group rotates locations regularly, and Kongsberg announced that next year's event heads to Norway, where the Protector system first originated in the late 1990s through a partnership with the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Look closely at where military technology budgets are heading. Standalone weapon systems without integrated networking, radar cueing, and anti-drone capabilities are being phased out fast. If you are tracking defense trends, watch how quickly armies retrofit older armored fleets with counter-UAS turrets. Software integration matters just as much as heavy steel armor now.
