The German government and military may acquire be leaning in favour of buying armed American UAS, rather than Israel’s Heron TP, as previously reported.
The news magazine Spiegel reported on Tuesday that a German diplomatic visit to Washington was bearing military fruit.
According to a report on Spiegel’s online portal, the US was ready to approve an official German request for three armed MQ-9 Reaper aircraft (also known as the “Predator B”) and four ground control stations, to be filed in May this year. Spiegel cited a representative of the German Defence Ministry. According to the source, the US Congress approved the move in theory on April 10. Germany already has unmanned aircraft, the nonweaponized Heron 1, in service over Afghanistan. They are on loan until October 2014. The Bundeswehr has no unmanned aircraft with firepower.
Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, both members of Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democrat alliance, conclude a joint visit to Washington on Tuesday.
De Maiziere was set to meet his US counterpart, Chuck Hagel, on Tuesday. Germany filed a preliminary request for the delivery of some form of unmanned aircraft early in 2012. The aircraft cost roughly $17 million (13 million euros) per unit. Germany was also reportedly considering the purchase of the Israeli-built Heron TP.
The issue of UAS purchases prompted sometimes contentious debate in German parliament. Owing to its 20th-century history, Germany retains a strictly nonviolent, defense-only military mandate. Opposition politicians, and some within the government’s ranks, have questioned whether unmanned aircraft armed with rockets are compatible with this.
A Forsa survey released earlier in April suggested that only 12 percent of Germans supported the use of armed drones in all circumstances. A majority of 59 percent approved the idea, however, provided that the aircraft were only used to ward off clear and present danger.
Source: Deutsche Welle