20260325 Bundeswehr will Angriffsdrohnen

25.03.2026 Bundeswehr will Angriffsdrohnen

Why does my rambling from yesterday bother me?

For years, we have tried to support the SPD in its stance against lethal injection. Year after year, the party has moved further away from that stance. Even our demonstrations with the Drone Quilts, commemorating over 300 children killed by U.S. drones, failed to have any lasting impact on policy.

Contrary to the decision by the Bundestag to hold a broad public debate prior to the purchase of armed drones, Israeli Heron-TP drones were purchased and "tested" at the Tel Nof base in Israel.

The Bundeswehr's Kamikaze Drones

Now, in the name of combat readiness, all restraints have been cast aside. The Bundeswehr now wants not only drones that can kill, but drones that must kill because they are not even supposed to return to their launch site. These are purely offensive weapons, even though, according to the Basic Law, the Bundeswehr may only be deployed for defense. In the current issue of the Information Center on Militarization (IMI No. 124), Tobias Pflüger writes:

"On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, according to a proposal by the Ministry of Defense, two bills regarding kamikaze drones — also known as 'loitering munitions' — are set to be approved by the Budget and Defense Committees. This marks the first time that the Bundeswehr is planning to procure explicit attack drones."

A total of 4.3 billion euros has been "set aside" for this in two contracts. The company Helsing is to supply the Helsing HX-2 kamikaze drone, and Stark Defence is to supply the "Stark Virtus" kamikaze drone. Therefore you have to know:

The HX-2, manufactured by a German company, experienced launch difficulties during tests conducted by Ukraine’s 14th Regiment, a unit specializing in unmanned aerial systems.
German Armed Forces General Gunter Schneider (?): “Three of those interviewed reported that Helsing drones were affected by interference near the front lines, which disrupted the connection to human operators.”
"Three of the respondents reported this." However, he added: "We are confident that the HX-2's test results will translate into high hit rates on the battlefield, including under electronic warfare conditions."
The WELT reports: "However, a Ukrainian document details dozens of other flight-related issues. An excerpt: 'defective rudder,' 'abnormal in-flight behavior,' 'unfit for flight.' The lengthy installation time for the system is also criticized."
Reports on Stark’s drone state: “According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the drones were flying without live ammunition during the tests; the focus was on accuracy, evaluating the software, and training future Bundeswehr operators. According to a report in the newspaper Bild, a Stark drone reportedly missed its target several times. One drone reportedly crashed into a wooded area. According to the Financial Times, there were also problems during tests with the British military."
Behind Helsing is Daniel Ek (Spotify), and behind Stark Defence is major investor Peter Thiel, the U.S. billionaire and right-wing Trump ally.

That’s really all you need to know, except perhaps that this killer project isn’t even a “European defense project” independent of the US. The SPD, just like its voters, has lost sight of the ethical issues as it careens toward the abyss...