Germany To Revive $1.5 Billion Euro Hawk Drone Project

Germany will revive the $1.5 billion high-altitude reconnaissance drone Euro Hawk project, media reports said Saturday.

The project which was scrapped last year, will be revived as part of a series of measures to boost the operational capability of its armed forces, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen was quoted to as saying by Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), a German newspaper.

The ministry’s assessment report is to be received by Monday and then it will be evaluated, Reuters cited a spokeswoman for the defence ministry as saying.

Germany would require a carrier purchase if the Euro Hawk prototype testing proves successful. A new version of the Global Hawk will probably be the only system that would be considered, Reuters reported.

Germany backed away last year from the plan to buy four more Euro Hawk drones, which Northrop Grumman developed with Europe’s Airbus based on the Global Hawk design.

Back then Germany said meeting the standards required to win aviation approval would cost 500 million to 600 million euros. But Northrop remains in long-running talks with the country about the stalled purchase.

FAS said the German armed forces had in recent months tested whether the reconnaissance system could be used on other platforms but had found that they could not be.