Israeli firms to arm Germany with suicide drones

UVision's partnership with Rheinmetall and IAI's partnership with MBDA will help equip the German Army with an arsenal of loitering munitions.

Last week, Germany's Ministry of Defense announced a new program to modernize the country's military weaponry, with mass procurement of loitering munitions (suicide drones) at its heart. This is encouraging news for the Israeli defense industry as a whole, since according to a report published last September, Israel is the world leader in supplying loitering munitions, mainly through UVision and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which have formed partnerships with overseas companies.

For Berlin, this is a transformative decision, reports the "Army Recognition" website. "This initiative not only marks a technological leap for the German military but also represents a strategic shift in how new weapon systems are adopted and integrated into operational use. Rather than pursuing the traditional approach of incremental trials with small batches, the Bundeswehr (German Army) will now deploy a significant number of loitering munitions directly to frontline units for immediate testing and tactical integration. Feedback from these operational environments will guide future procurement decisions, potentially expanding the program or steering it toward alternative systems," the website reports.

Following the Russia-Ukraine war and the war in Israel, the German military has learned the lesson of the importance of loitering munitions. "This is a game changer," said German Chief of Staff General Carsten Breuer.

UVision cooperating with Rheinmetall

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall is an integral part of the planned process. The German company, ranked in 20th place, two places above Elbit Systems in "Defense News" biggest 100 defense manufacturers, has extensive cooperation with UVision. Based in Tzur Yigal, UVision develops and manufactures the Hero series of loitering munitions. The collaboration with Rheinmetall has already produced impressive products on an international scale, such as a launcher in a shipping container with a capacity for 126 loitering munitions, designed to launch the Hero.

The "TWZ" (The War Zone) website has reported that a standard shipping container will be divided into three arrays, each with about 42 compartments. This could indicate a modular system that can be adapted to 10-, 20- or 40-foot containers, with the larger the container, the more loitering munitions it can launch.

Rheinmetall's innovative launch platform is impressive news for three major reasons. First and foremost, it enables swarm attacks, in which a large number of munitions are launched to hit a target and cause serious challenges for air defense systems.

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Two additional essential advantages of launching from a container that are intertwined with each other are the multiplicity of platforms and the ability to camouflage. A container can be launched from both a land and a sea platform. Containers comprise about 80% of all global maritime trade.

In terms of UVision's models, the Hero line includes 30,90 and 120 lighter models in terms of weight operated by soldiers in the field, 30, 90 and 120, and the 400, 900, 1250 heavier models launched from dedicated platforms.

The Hero 120 has a maximum range of 40-60 kilometers and an operating time of one hour. Companies from Germany and Israel say that the Hero 120 warhead weighs about 4.5 kilograms (about 10 pounds). Different warheads can be installed on the same munition to target armored vehicles or soldiers.

Compared with the 120 model, the Hero 1250 is bigger and deadlier, carrying a 50 kilogram warhead, with a range of more than 200 kilometers and an operating time of up to 10 hours.

The Hero has a system that allows the remote operator to see what the loitering munition sees, through electro-optical and infrared cameras. The operator can make minor course corrections to the UAV, or decide to cancel the mission, if innocent passersby appear unexpectedly, for example. The loitering munitions can also be launched at targets, and carry out missions from start to finish themselves, or can be transferred to ground forces to increase the coordination and efficiency of the forces.

Cooperation with IAI

In a loitering munition model resembling Rheinmetall and UVision's Hero, European company MBDA has a collaboration with IAI for the sale of the Harop loitering munition. The Harop is effective up to a range of 200 kilometers and can fly for nine hours and reach a speed of 225 knots at an altitude of up to 15,000 feet. It carries about 16 kilograms of explosives, is very accurate and is capable of attacking at a vertical or horizontal angle. Based on it, Iran developed the Shahed 136 imitation, against which Israel has been defending itself since the start of the war. However, while the price of each Harop is estimated at about $700,000, the price of each Shahed 136 is just $30,000.

The Harop gained a worldwide reputation thanks to its lethal effectiveness in the Second Karabakh War in 2020, in which Azerbaijan defeated Armenia. The Armenians were unable to cope with it, and the weapon became one of the symbols of victory. This was reflected, among other things, when at a military base, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev affectionately stroked the Harop in front of television cameras - a move that reflected the feelings of his entire nation.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 22, 2025.

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