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Germany Funds Major Purchase of Ukrainian Strike Drones With US Targeting Software
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Germany is funding 50,000 attack drones for Ukraine, in one of the largest known drone purchases for Kyiv by a Western government.
This was reported by Reuters on July 12, citing a source familiar with the matter.
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The order covers Shrike first-person-view drones built by the major Ukrainian manufacturer SkyFall, according to Reuters. The aircraft carries software from the US defense technology firm Auterion, designed to autonomously track and hit moving targets in the final phase of flight.
Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier confirmed the contract's size to Reuters, putting its value at about $103 million and describing it as funded by a European country.
Meier told Reuters that some of the drones had already reached Ukraine's government, with the remainder due for dispatch this year.
SkyFall confirmed Germany's involvement but could not comment on the purchase details, Reuters reported. Germany's Defense Ministry declined to comment, citing operational security. Ukraine's Defense Ministry also declined.
The Shrike is a low-cost system that has been in use in Ukraine since 2023, Reuters noted.
A version produced by SkyFall with the UK company Skycutter, the Shrike 10-F, recently topped the leaderboard in the first round of a Pentagon-run competition tied to a $1.1 billion initiative to buy hundreds of thousands of one-way attack drones. Auterion indicated that its software featured in several entries.
Ukraine has leaned heavily on unmanned systems across more than four years of war, producing millions of drones annually while its forces conduct thousands of drone strikes each day, according to Reuters.
Meier told Reuters that Auterion is helping supply a total of 100,000 drones to Ukraine this year in partnership with different hardware makers, financed by several Western governments.
That figure includes a $50 million Pentagon contract for 33,000 drones, which he confirmed have been delivered. Last month, Britain announced it would provide 150,000 drones to Ukraine this year as part of a broader $1.01 billion funding package, Reuters added.
The purchase extends a pattern of European money flowing directly into Ukraine's drone lines rather than into legacy hardware transfers. Germany committed at least $13.46 billion in military assistance for this year, with a substantial share directed toward joint manufacturing and long-range capabilities.
Sweden followed on May 28 with a package worth roughly $2.7 billion, including $400 million earmarked specifically for drone production.
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