The Bundeswehr no longer wants to procure small drones of Chinese manufacture for training purposes. Instead, it plans to buy commercially available drones from safe countries, such as European states or the USA. This is set out in a directive from the Ministry of Defence, which also rules out Ukrainian drones. Chinese devices already in service may continue to be used.

Countries are deemed unsafe if they appear on the list of states maintained by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. So far the armed forces have introduced around 1,500 small, commercially available unmanned aircraft systems under framework agreements. For the centralised procurement of new small drones planned from now on, the defence budget earmarks just under €11 million this year and just under €15 million next year.

In addition, strict security requirements apply in military areas to connected vehicles fitted with sensors, in order to prevent the unauthorised collection of data. These rules apply regardless of the vehicle's country, manufacturer or origin.

Key points:

• In future, the Bundeswehr intends to forgo small drones of Chinese manufacture for its training purposes.
• Instead, commercially available drones are to be purchased that do not come from any of the countries regarded as unsafe, such as China.
• This is set out in a directive from the Ministry of Defence.

Source: Augen geradeaus! (German)