Germany to finance procurement of 50,000 Ukrainian-made Shrike FPV drones

Germany is financing the procurement of 50,000 Ukrainian-made Shrike FPV strike drones for Ukraine’s Defence Forces. Reuters reported this, citing a source familiar with the project.

The deal is one of the largest known drone procurement contracts for Ukraine, funded by a Western government. The order involves Shrike FPV drones manufactured by Ukrainian company SkyFall and equipped with software from US company Auterion. The software is designed to autonomously track and hit moving targets during the terminal phase of flight.

Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier confirmed the contract is worth around €90 million. He stated that the funding is being provided by a European country and that some of the drones have already been delivered to Ukraine, with the remaining systems scheduled for dispatch by the end of the year.

SkyFall later confirmed Germany’s involvement in financing the procurement, but declined to comment on the details of the agreement. The defence ministries of both Germany and Ukraine also declined to comment, citing operational security considerations.

The Shrike, an FPV drone that has been deployed by the Ukrainian military since 2023, has recently gained prominence overseas. In particular, a version called the Shrike 10 Fiber topped the leaderboard in the first round of a Pentagon-run competition Drone Dominance.

According to Lorenz Meier, Auterion is helping to supply a total of 100,000 drones to Ukraine this year in partnership with various hardware manufacturers, with funding provided by several Western governments. This figure includes 33,000 drones delivered under a $50 million Pentagon contract.