Germany is funding the delivery of 50,000 attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with artificial intelligence, which allows the drones to independently track and strike targets during the final stage of flight.
Reuters reported this on Sunday, July 12, citing its own sources.
An unnamed source told the agency that the order includes Shrike FPV drones manufactured by the Ukrainian company SkyFall. A key feature of these drones is software from the American company Auterion, designed for autonomous tracking and engagement of moving targets.
Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier confirmed this information to Reuters. According to him, the contract is worth EUR 90 million. It is being funded by one of the European countries, though Meier did not specify which one.
Auterion’s CEO added that some of the drones have already been delivered to Ukraine, and the rest are scheduled to be shipped later this year.
SkyFall confirmed its involvement in Germany but stated that it could not comment on the details of the purchase.
Reuters reports that the Shrike is a relatively inexpensive drone. The Ukrainian military has been actively using it on the front lines since 2023. Recently, this drone has attracted the attention of the US Department of Defense.
The Shrike model, designated 10 Fiber (10-F) recently topped the rankings in the first round of a competition held by the Pentagon as part of a USD 1.1 billion initiative to procure hundreds of thousands of drones.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on June 30, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko stated that the European Union had provided Ukraine with a EUR 3.9 billion loan intended for the purchase of drones and urgent military supplies.
As a reminder, on June 22, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that 95% of the drones used by the Ukrainian military on the front lines are manufactured in Ukraine.
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