The German company Rheinmetall is ready to supply Ukraine with its latest development, the FV-014 Raider loitering munition. First presented last year, it is also part of the Bundeswehr's drone program. However, as of today, no contract has been signed to supply these drones for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was announced by Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger in an interview with DW. He said that the FV-014 Raider drone had been offered to Ukraine and that the company was ready to supply the Defense Forces of Ukraine with the first batch of 200 units. However, Rheinmetall's CEO once again highlighted the issue of funding for the orders.
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"The situation is complicated by a significant lack of funding," says Papperger, noting that they have been unable to sign a contract with Ukraine for several months because of payment delays.
Rheinmetall has repeatedly highlighted the issue, which is preventing them from supplying Ukraine with ammunition they already have in stock due to a lack of funding.
Rheinmetall first publicly unveiled its FV-014 drone at the DSEI exhibition in September last year. The design is claimed to be battle-tested, implying it has seen at least some use in Ukraine. However, the company has not officially reported this. There are also no photos or videos confirming the use of this drone in Ukraine.
Video footage of the secretive FV-014 drone was first released in February of this year. The FV-014 has a maximum range of 100 km (with a communication range of 60 km), can stay in the air for up to 70 minutes, and weighs 20 kg, including a 5 kg HEDP cumulative-fragmentation warhead. It can also operate in swarms.
Rheinmetall, with its FV-014 drone, participated in the Bundeswehr's loitering munitions program. Although it lost to two startups (Helsing with its HX-2 drone and STARK with Virtus) in terms of implementation speed, it ultimately managed to conduct tests and demonstrate the required level of product maturity within the program's timeframe.
The cost of the FV-014 drone has not been disclosed, but it is likely to be quite high. For context, the HX-2 costs around €60,000 and the Virtus around €122,000, meaning that 200 FV-014 drones for Ukraine would cost over €10 million.
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