In July 2016, the German Ministry of Defense announced its intention to lease 5 MALE [Medium Altitude Long Endurance] Heron TP [or Eitan] drone systems from the Israeli group IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) for 580 million euros. In June 2018, Germany signed the leasing agreement. Under this contract, the German army would use these UAVs only to conduct unarmed reconnaissance missions. They would be modified according to this restriction. However, these drones will, at last, be armed, a decision taken on April 6.
At first, this decision was challenged by the American manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautic Systems, which saw an opportunity to place its MQ-9 Reaper slip away. And the case was taken to court. Bad idea since the Federal Cartel Office dismissed its case, as did the Düsseldorf court, Laurent Lagneau recalls in Opex360. Anyway, these drones would not be armed, serving only for intelligence gathering and surveillance/reconnaissance missions.
On April 6, 2022, the members of the German Defense Committee approved the government’s request to acquire 140 missiles to arm the five Heron TP drones, including 60 for training purposes. All this for 152.6 million euros. So, it took at least six years to reach such a decision.
According to the Bloomberg agency, a draft resolution to be examined by the Budget Committee [which will also have its say] indicates, in particular, that armed drones can only be used in combat if the Bundestag has explicitly so endorsed: “The use of armed drones is subject to international and constitutional limits as well as limits imposed by the Bundestag. […] The use of drones is only authorized to combat ‘legitimate targets’ within the meaning of international humanitarian law”, as it is specified in this draft resolution echoed by Laurent Lagneau.