Germany is betting on domestic strike drones

The Bundeswehr has decided on several types of strike drones to be purchased for study and testing by the German army.

German defense media Hartpunkt reported on this, citing sources in the federal government.

The Federal Ministry of Defense is in the final phase of procuring several different unmanned systems and is expected to sign the first contracts in the next few days.

The pilot batch of drones will be tested in the army, and the decision on further purchases will be made based on the results. As the media’s sources have learned, these are drones from the German companies Helsing and STARK.

Helsing offers its flagship product, the HX-2 unmanned aerial vehicle, which was successfully tested during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The strike drone with an electric motor and X-shaped wing weighs about 12 kilograms and can cover a distance of up to 100 kilometers. It is disposable, meaning that it cannot be returned in the event of a canceled operation.

Given Helsing’s specialization in developing software solutions, the drone’s key advantage is its onboard control system with machine vision elements and complex algorithms that ensure stable operation in electronic jamming languages and autonomous navigation without the use of satellite networks.

Altra’s onboard software allows drones to be grouped into a single formation for simultaneous control by a single operator.

Another participant of the German competition from STARK is the OWE-V strike drone, which was first publicly presented only last week at the Unbemannte Systeme X conference.

Unlike typical systems in the field, this drone uses a vertical takeoff and landing system, which greatly simplifies deployment and launch compared to a catapult launch and allows the drone to be reused. According to the company, the preparation time for deployment is less than 10 minutes.

The drone with X-shaped wings has a 1.8-meter wingspan and an electric motor mounted on the tips. With a weight of up to 30 kilograms, the drone can carry up to 5 kg of payload over a distance of 80 to 100 km. The drone can fly for up to 60 minutes, during which it can reach a cruising speed of up to 120 km/h and climb to an altitude of up to 2000 meters.

The developers note that the main advantages of the drone are its production entirely of German components and an advanced control system based on “artificial intelligence” that allows detecting and identifying targets, as well as providing navigation without satellite networks.