Germany\u2019s largest defence contractor, Rheinmetall, will supply the German Armed Forces or Bundeswehr with so-called kamikaze drones that are designed to<\/p>\n
circle over the target area as “loitering munitions” and then autonomously dive towards a target.<\/p>\n
The Bundeswehr Procurement Office has signed a contract worth \u20ac300 million ($351 million) in Koblenz, the arms manufacturer in Dusseldorf announced on Wednesday. The exact number of drones is classified.<\/p>\n
Delivery is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027. The missiles will be manufactured in Neuss.<\/p>\n
The order for the FV-014 model was placed under a framework contract which, according to informed sources, is worth \u20ac1 billion. In total, the contract covers a five-figure number of drones.<\/p>\n
Competitors Stark and Helsing have similar framework contracts and have already secured orders.<\/p>\n
Rheinmetall is behind when it comes to these “loitering” drones. The tank and munitions manufacturer first had to develop the drone from scratch and bring it to market. The drones are loaded with explosives and are also used for reconnaissance purposes.<\/p>\n
“With the FV-014, the Bundeswehr will acquire another weapon system with which it can protect its own forces and engage critical targets quickly, in a controlled and effective manner,” Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger said.<\/p>\n
Rheinmetall will very soon be producing the system on an industrial scale in large quantities.<\/p>\n
According to the information provided, the drones have a range of up to 100 kilometres, and their warhead weighs around 4 kilograms including the detonator. The drone can remain airborne for up to 70 minutes and observe targets. The product is manufactured entirely within the European Union.<\/p>\n
The German Armed Forces view the loitering munition positively, as this type of weapon allows them to react quickly and engage enemy targets with precision. The range is also greater than that of artillery shells.<\/p>\n
Strictly speaking, they are not drones at all, but rather munitions, as these weapon systems are intended for single use. They are fired upwards from a container using a firing mechanism, deploy in the air and continue flying.<\/p>\n
If the time has elapsed and no target has been found, they are allowed to crash in a controlled manner, a Rheinmetall spokesperson explained.<\/p>\n
The software is crucial for this type of weapon and must be continuously developed. The contracts with the drone suppliers contain innovation clauses, according to the Bundeswehr. These clauses oblige the manufacturers to keep the systems up to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout such a clause, the systems purchased today could be ineffective within a few months because the potential adversary would already have taken countermeasures,” the armed forces said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s largest defence contractor, Rheinmetall, will supply the German Armed Forces or Bundeswehr with so-called kamikaze drones that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6580,6581,6582,2243,5,6579,770],"class_list":{"0":"post-6783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-bundeswehr-procurement-office","9":"tag-defence-contractor","10":"tag-framework-contract","11":"tag-german-armed-forces","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-kamikaze-drones","14":"tag-rheinmetall"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}