LONDON — Germany’s Rheinmetall plans to expand its strike drone business, unveiling a new family of systems at the DSEI trade show that could initially swell to 1,000 units produced this year.
Company CEO Armin Papperger told reporters here that unmanned aerial vehicles is one of the portfolios the company aims to push in the coming years.
“Small drones are a good business. They are not a game changer, but we also want to develop them to have unmanned technologies that we can implement,” Papperger said.
During the briefing, the executive demonstrated the FV-014, a loitering munition fitted with a high-explosive, dual-purpose (HEDP) warhead and enabled to operate in GPS-denied conditions.
The drone has a range of around 100 km. It’s part of a family of drones the manufacturer describes as the “Fabulous Five” that use common propulsion and navigation systems.
Company representatives say that while this year’s drone output is expected to comprise around 1,000 UAVs, Rheinmetall is currently in talks with various potential clients that could boost its UAV business in the coming years beyond €120 million ($141 million) annually.
“We have observed a growing demand for loitering munition in Europe. The FV-014 is our answer to this need. This 15kg-class drone will be produced in Germany, with a potential output of between 500 and 1,000 drones per month,” Christian Rucker, the business development manager for UxS, product and airborne solutions at Rheinmetall, told Defense News. “We expect that production will begin in 2026.”
Meanwhile, Rheinmetall is also advancing its cooperation with U.S. defense-technology company Anduril Industries to jointly offer the Barracuda range of autonomous air vehicles to potential European customers.
“Under this partnership, Rheinmetall negotiates, sells and ensures after-sales support to clients in Europe, and Anduril produces the Barracuda, which is a very affordable long-range system suitable for mass production,” Rucker said. “In the future, it is also possible that Rheinmetall could manufacture this product in Germany.”
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.