Drones for Ukraine, made in Germany

Ukraine will soon receive battle tanks as well as reconnaissance drones from Germany. Both decisions were announced on the same day last week — but news that Leopard 2 battle tanks would finally be delivered to the Ukrainian army eclipsed that of the drones. The announcement involved a young company, Quantum-Systems, which has received a large follow-up order for its Vector drones from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense — paid for by the German government.

German taxpayers to foot €20 million bill to provide drones for Ukraine

The Vector reconnaissance drone has proven to be a true asset in the war in Ukraine. Kyiv ordered 33 of them early last August and has ordered another 105 since. But practical field tests predated that. Last spring, Quantum-Systems CEO and co-founder Florian Seibel told the German media that a Ukrainian billionaire had approached him to buy drones for his country's army, and that several other oligarchs followed his example.

Vector drones were already in use in Ukraine at a time when many politicians in Germany still had serious doubts about the advisability of supplying weapons to Kyiv. Drones, however, are not weapons as such, which explains the rapid export approval granted by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs at the time. The electric vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (eVTOL UAV) in the shape of a propeller aircraft has a length of 1.63 meters (64 inches), a wingspan of 2.8 meters (110 inches), and is used for aerial reconnaissance. It has a flight duration of 120 minutes and can transmit video footage and data from a distance of up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles), which is the range of many artillery weapons.

The drones cost €180,000 ($195,600) each, which means the German government will be shelling out almost €20 million for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's follow-up order. When asked why the Vector is so expensive, Seibel told DW that it is actually in the lower price segment — and that Israeli and US military reconnaissance drones are significantly more expensive. "There is simply a lot of military technology built in: special antennas, night vision devices, infrared cameras, tap-proof data links," he said, adding the software involves decades of development work, for instance concerning control and navigation.

Drone idea hatched after 16 years in the Bundeswehr

Seibel did not originally intend to supply the military. He first focused on the development, design and production of small UAVs for the commercial civilian sector. He had previously spent 16 years in the military, first as a helicopter pilot, then at the Bundeswehr University Munich, where he conducted research for his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. There, he met three other future company founders, patented the prototype of a drone with one of them — and dropped his doctorate plans. He launched the start-up Quantum-Systems in January 2015.

Two years later, series production of the Trinity drone began. It was mainly used for land surveying and mapping agricultural and construction projects, including in Germany, Indonesia, Ghana and the US. It was used in Ukraine, too, first in the agricultural sector and then as part of a project in Chernobyl.

Development of the dual-use Vector drone, which is designed for military use as well as by police, firefighters and border guards, began at Quantum-Systems in 2018. "Of course, I couldn't have guessed that the Russians would invade all of Ukraine, even though they had already partly done so in Crimea in 2014," Seibel told DW. "I just had the feeling that we in Europe were neglecting our security and should be more concerned about the issue."

Great demand for German reconnaissance drone

Often something starts out as a military development and then finds its way into the civilian world, Seibel said. "In this case, we took the opposite approach and made our commercial technology available to the military. They can learn to use our system with almost effortless ease within a few hours."

The Vector series went into production in 2020. Its spring 2022 deployment in Ukraine was its first ever military use, and that in a war zone. "We, the West, must do everything we can to end this war as quickly as possible, but we can only force Russia to the negotiating table if the Russians see they are going to lose the war," the head of Quantum-Systems said, arguing that as long as they assume they can win, they will fight on.

Deliveries to Ukraine have also sparked other militaries' interest in the reconnaissance drone. The Bundeswehr, the US army and the Dutch army have all placed orders.

Some people in Germany might see Florian Seibel as a war profiteer. "We are an economic winner of the war because we are making money by providing technology that is needed," conceded Seibel, who compared the situation with that of Germany's Biontech, which developed and marketed the world's most successful innovative vaccine against COVID in cooperation with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Biontech, said Seibel, helped rid the world of a major health disaster, and it is only fair that the company's founders and the investors — who for years funded their work at their own risk — should be rewarded.

Star tech investor Peter Thiel gets involved

Quantum-Systems is responsible to the investors who entrusted the young company with tens of millions of euros, Seibel said, adding that they include Bayern Kapital, the German state of Bavaria's investment company, which promotes the aerospace industry — in particular in the greater Munich area, where Quantum-Systems is located.

In October 2022, Peter Thiel, a German-American tech investor and billionaire entrepreneur, decided to take a stake in the company as well. That came close to a knighthood, Seibel said. "Peter Thiel is certainly one of the most successful, if not the most successful tech investor in the world, he was able to build a financial foundation with Paypal, thanks to which he then invested more, for instance in Facebook, where he was involved early on."

Seibel said he is aware of the fact that Thiel is a controversial political figure because of his support for Donald Trump and right-wing US Republicans. "But it's not my job to discuss politics with him," the Quantum-Systems CEO argued. What matters is that "Peter Thiel invested in a German drone company because he basically believes it can do something great."

As far as drone deliveries to the Ukrainian army are concerned, Quantum-Systems representatives are working on organizing maintenance on site in Ukraine to avoid having to bring them back to Germany.

This article was originally written in German.