German Anti-Drone Project Costs Increase Fivefold – Spiegel

The planned procurement of an anti-drone system by Germany’s defence ministry will end up being five times more expensive than initially expected, Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday.

The price for the armaments project – designed to ramp up defences against missiles and other threats including drones – is currently around 1.3 billion euros ($1.40 billion), the magazine reported, referring to a price set by industry.

That is in stark contrast to original cost estimates from 2020, which put it at about 240.6 million euros.

The so-called anti-drone system is to be purchased from a consortium formed in 2021, consisting of arms manufacturers Rheinmetall, Hensoldt and Diehl.

The budget committee of the Bundestag lower house of parliament is due to discuss the issue on Wednesday, as it has to approve all arms purchases worth more than 25 million euros.

“The ministry of defence should definitely submit a price review request to the responsible price monitoring body,” the German Federal Audit Office told the magazine.

No one at the defence ministry was immediately available to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Nette Nöstlinger; Editing by Madeline Chambers)