Germany currently works on reusable Cobra 600 jet drone, which will be armed with IRIS-T air-to-air missile. Essentially this should be reusable fighter drone, whose creators hope Cobra 600 can be used even for shooting down russian Su-34s with guided bombs.
Such development looks promising, but question is this jet fighter drone only conducted first flight. Accordingly, question of shooting down enemy aircraft with such UAV lies only in hypothetical plane for now.
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As Hartpunkt portal recalls, work on this project is conducted by conglomerate comprising defense company Diehl Defence and startup POLARIS Raumflugzeuge. Cobra 600 first flight occurred recently, in second half of August 2026, aircraft flew 20 kilometers, likely flight area was over Baltic Sea waters.
Cobra 600 takeoff mass is 600 kilograms, flight was performed without payload that would simulate IRIS-T missile. Envisioned is further test flights will occur over coming months, and there simulators or IRIS-T itself should already be present.
As follows from image above, Cobra 600 has wheeled landing gear for takeoff from airstrips. Expected speed and flight range parameters, UAV cost itself and expected production massiveness are currently not announced.
Cobra 600 developers bet on their interceptor drone cheapness, and most complex element should be IRIS-T itself. Capability to shoot down russian Su-34s with guided bombs and other enemy tactical aviation aircraft should arise thanks to two elements — 1) sufficient flight range and 2) small size and low observability of this jet interceptor UAV.
Recall work by Germans on their jet Shahed analog with IRIS-T missile first became known in June 2025, and a year later in June 2026 Cobra 600 mockup was first shown.
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