German Army simplifies procurement of commercial drones

The German Army has simplified the procurement procedure for units for their own needs of small commercial drones from Autel and DJI.

This is reported by the Hartpunkt publication.

For this purpose, the Procurement Office of the Federal Office of the Bundeswehr for Technology, Information Technology and Technical Support (BAAINBw) has concluded two framework agreements for the supply of commercial small drones for 2025 and 2026.

Now units can purchase Autel Evo Max 4T and DJI drones Matrice 30 in local dealers selected in the tender. Without the need to announce a tender for each individual purchase and using a common budget for this.

As the publication notes, although both systems are produced by Chinese manufacturers, they belong to the «blue list» allowed systems. Because German suppliers modify them to meet the necessary information security standards.

Procurement procedure

German units are allowed to purchase and use commercial drones from the end of 2023. However, then the drones had to be paid from «flexible budget funds for commanders» (Kdr), from which many other decentralized purchases are financed.

In addition, the annual appropriations within this budget article were very small. And in the case of expensive drones, they could only be enough for the purchase of one system.

In addition, within the framework of such purchases, it was necessary to announce a tender for each purchase, which significantly complicated and slowed down the process.

As BAAINBw explained at the request of the publication, the process will now be much simpler, since the military will be able to order certain drones directly from the framework agreement. Funding will also take place centrally, outside the Kdr.

procedure

However, if necessary, military units will also be able to order additional drones using Kdr funds, but now without the need for separate tenders, but simply by contacting the supplier within the framework of the signed framework agreements.