Germany to Buy 12,000 Kamikaze Drones – Brigade on the Border with Russia First to be Armed

The German Armed Forces are planning to purchase 12,000 kamikaze drones for hundreds of millions of euros to address current threats.

Sicherheit & Verteidigung reported on this with reference to the Financial Times.

The first drones will be sent to the German 45th Armored Brigade, which is stationed in Lithuania, a country bordering Russia.

Three German companies Helsing, Stark Defense, and Rheinmetall will receive large orders.

According to the Financial Times, each of the three companies will receive a contract worth about EUR 300 million.

The total production of approximately 12,000 kamikaze drones is planned. Their purchase will be a significant step for the German armed forces, which have not previously had such weapons in their arsenal.

This refers to the following drones: Virtus from Stark Defense, HX-2 from Helsing, and the recently introduced FV-104 from defense giant Rheinmetall.

It is noted that all three companies have significantly expanded their production capacity in recent months to meet growing demand.

At the same time, the planned delivery model is quite interesting: only a portion of the ordered drones will be directly delivered to the troops. The majority will initially remain with the manufacturers to receive constant software and hardware updates. It is noted that this approach has been proven effective in Ukraine.

“There, innovation cycles sometimes last only a few weeks, making traditional warehouse storage impractical,” Sicherheit & Verteidigung noted.

The planned procurement contracts are yet to be approved by the German Bundestag’s budget committee. The first combat tests of the selected kamikaze drones will take place later this year.

In addition, Germany has signed a record contract to purchase Spike anti-tank guided missiles for EUR 2 billion.