The first Heron TP is due to take off for test flights in Schleswig-Holstein in mid-May. However, the training of Bundeswehr pilots in Israel remains suspended.
The first weapons-capable drone from Israel is due to complete its first test flights in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein from mid-May. This schedule will be adhered to despite the Gaza war, an air force spokeswoman confirmed to “nd”. The return of German training drones to the Israeli military will therefore not lead to any delays.
After a ten-year-long “drone debate”, the Bundestag decided to procure armed unmanned aerial vehicles in 2021. The Ministry of Defence then ordered five Heron TP drones manufactured in Israel in their latest series as well as the necessary ammunition. In this way, the Bundeswehr intends to establish an “initial capability” for large armed drones. The Heron TP is the successor to the unarmed Heron 1, which the Bundeswehr has flown on missions in Afghanistan since 2010 and Mali since 2016.
On the basis of an intergovernmental agreement between Berlin and Jerusalem, the Israeli air force began training up to 80 German pilots and operators of the Heron TP. Following the attacks on 7 October, Israel ended these training sessions near Tel Aviv. The German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (Social Democratic Party, SPD) subsequently announced that two of the combat drones loaned for this purpose would be made available for the war in Gaza.
The main contractor for the drones leased from Israel is the armaments division of Airbus based in Bremen, with the Ministry of Defence estimating the costs at €717 million. An initial deployment to a theatre of operations is expected to cost a further €100 million, plus an additional €43 million for an initial 140 missiles.
The German combat drones will be stationed at a military airfield in Jagel, with flight operations extending as far as North and East Frisia. The first Heron TP will be transported to Germany in disassembled condition in a military transport aircraft. But it remains unclear who will subsequently pilot the drone in Germany: “The training of German crews is still suspended,” the Bundeswehr told “nd”.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: The Israeli air force has named the drone co-operation with the Bundeswehr after Manfred von Richthofen, a German fighter pilot in the First World War, who was hailed as “Red Baron” (BMVg).
