Defense: Bundeswehr is equipped with drone ammunition for the fight

The Bundeswehr is to get modern and explosive attack drones based on the model of the armed forces of other states. The contracts would be signed in the next few days, the Ministry of Defense in Berlin said. Accordingly, smaller quantities are to be bought from at least two manufacturers in order to gain experience in the troop and to start practical training.

According to previous political decisions, the Bundeswehr has not yet had these flying and partially autonomous weapons systems, which experts refer to as “Loitering Ammunition” – such as “rising ammunition”.

This name refers to the use in flight, which takes over a area of ​​application until a goal can be recognized and attacked. If the weapon systems are only intended for a one-time use, they are also referred to as Kamikaze drones.

Germany has been back so far

With reference to contracts that have not yet been signed, no names of manufacturers were given from the ministry. In recent years, Germany has been significantly behind developments in other countries in armaments technology.

The German company Helsing is now also among the manufacturers of such weapons. For use-initially in Ukraine-it developed the HX-2 drone that uses artificial intelligence to control explosions to a goal confirmed by the soldier and to be less susceptible to interference measures.

The armaments company had recently pleaded for the quick structure of a credible conventional deterrent on the NATO east flank with new types of fighting drones. “This drone wall could be built within one year. You also need educational systems, satellites and probably also educational drones,” says Gundbert Scherf, co-founder and co-chairman, the German press agency in Berlin.

The new drone systems are a “gamuchanger”

From the Ministry of Defense, with a view to experiences from the course of the war in Ukraine, drones were also in today’s war what tanks were 100 years ago – “namely a real gamuchanger”. The use in the network of drones could be decisive for war, but not war -decisive. Through drones alone, war cannot be gained.

The existing deficit in drones would be caught up, it said from the Ministry of Defense. In the future, the use will be parts of “everyone training”. All men and women in the Bundeswehr should be able to use drones as before and now a binoculars.

The military planners also refer to fast development cycles. Therefore, it is of no use to create large stocks that will soon be out of date.

Significant problems in defense against suspicious drones about military grounds or critical infrastructure will continue to admit. These could not simply be shot down over inhabited regions if interference measures do not apply. Each projectile strikes back on the ground and can thus become a fatal danger.