© Sean Gallup / Getty ImagesA kamikaze drone during a military expo in Schoenefeld, Germany, June 05, 2024.
The prospective deals involve three German companies - Stark, Helsing, and Rheinmetall - and form part of a broader plan to bolster the Bundeswehr's unmanned aerial capabilities, according to the Financial Times.
Bild, however, cited defense sources who described a problematic test held in late October at a training range near Munster. During the trials, two drones supplied by the startup Stark failed to hit their intended targets. One reportedly missed by more than 150 meters, while another crashed into nearby woodland. Rheinmetall, a traditional arms manufacturer and new entrant to the drone market, reportedly did not participate in the evaluation at all.
According to the FT, Stark, which was founded in late 2024 and backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, Sequoia Capital, and NATO's Innovation Fund, had also taken part in British Army trials in Kenya this month, where its drones similarly failed to strike their targets.
"It was a disaster for Stark," one source briefed on the German trials told the outlet. "They've been overselling [their capabilities] and are now paying the price."
Despite the setbacks, both Stark and Rheinmetall were selected to receive €300 million contracts each just days after the Munster test, Bild said. Final approval from the German parliament is still pending, but additional evaluations are expected.
The procurement effort is part of a wider EU push for rapid militarization under the justification of preparing for a potential confrontation with Russia - an argument Moscow dismisses as false and a distraction from Europe's internal woes.
German defense companies, along with other Western arms producers, have seen record profits since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict and the EU's open-ended commitment to continue arming Kiev "for as long as it takes."
Reader Comments
But there is another explanation :
" It doesn't make a differerence anymore now, so let's get as much out of it was we can - and then run away ..."
That may be the real thing.
In 2023, the Russians gave another demonstration of their new hypersonic Khinzal missile. They took out an underground ammunition storage in the Ukraine they had built themselves during the cold war era, more than 150m deep. The Soviets were a bit paranoid back then, this bunker would withstand a direct nuclear hit on the ground.
The Russians took it out a single missile. No Western bunker I know of is built to this standards ...
Air bases like Rammstein or Diego Garcia, for instance.