Germany is financing the procurement of 50,000 FPV attack drones for Ukraine, according to Reuters, citing its own sources. The order is reportedly one of the largest known drone procurements for Ukraine funded by a Western government.
The full-scale war has now continued for more than four years, during which Ukraine has made extensive use of a wide range of unmanned systems against Russia. Ukraine’s defense industry produces millions of drones annually, while Ukrainian forces conduct hundreds to thousands of drone strikes each day. According to the cited sources, the reported order includes Shrike FPV attack drones manufactured by the Ukrainian company SkyFall. These unmanned systems are equipped with software developed by the U.S. defense technology company Auterion,
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Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier confirmed the scale of the contract, stating that it is valued at approximately €90 million and is being financed by a European country. According to Meier, some of the drones have already been delivered to the Ukrainian government, with the remaining systems scheduled for delivery by the end of this year.
SkyFall confirmed Germany’s involvement but stated that it could not comment on the details of the procurement. The German Ministry of Defence declined to provide further information, citing operational security considerations, as did Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence.
The Shrike is a low-cost unmanned aerial system that has been in operational use in Ukraine since 2023 and has recently attracted significant international attention. This follows the strong performance of the Shrike 10-F, developed jointly by SkyFall and the UK-based company Skycutter, which recently secured the top position in the first phase of a Pentagon competition under a $1.1 billion initiative to procure hundreds of thousands of expendable attack drones. Auterion stated that its software is integrated into several of the competing submissions.
According to Meier, Auterion is supporting the delivery of a total of 100,000 drones to Ukraine this year in cooperation with multiple hardware manufacturers. These programs are funded by several Western governments. The total also includes 33,000 drones supplied under a $50 million Pentagon contract, which, according to Meier, have already been delivered to Ukraine.
Earlier, we reported that the United Kingdom had announced the delivery of 150,000 drones to Ukraine as part of a broader £752 million assistance package. The initiative will be financed using frozen Russian sovereign assets. Under the plan, Ukraine is expected to receive 150,000 Ukrainian-made drones, along with more than 350 missiles for air defense and radar systems, by the end of the year.
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Source: reuters
