Bundeswehr Drone Directive Bars Suppliers From Listed States, China and Ukraine Included
Berlin, 11 November 2026
Key points
- A defence-ministry directive of 2 November says small commercial drones and their components are to be bought “exclusively from safe states”, Augen geradeaus reports from the text
- Unsafe states are those on the interior ministry's Staatenliste; its June 2022 version names 26, among them Russia, China and Ukraine, hartpunkt reports
- About 1,500 commercial drones reached the force under framework agreements; central purchases get just under EUR 11 million this year and just under EUR 15 million next, until military small drones arrive from end 2026
- The ministry's spokesman said the Chinese models bought for training “will now gradually go out of use”, and that there is no “ban or blanket prohibition” by country or maker
The Bundeswehr is replacing the commercial drones it trained on, and the rule that decides where the replacements may come from is written against a list, not against China.
The fleet at stake is the off-the-shelf quadcopter layer the army used to build drone tactics. In November 2023 the Joint Support Service barred drones from risk states, “currently only China”; in 2024 eight DJI models were cleared and the Bundeswehr signed a framework with Droneparts for 500 DJI Matrice M30T, Correctiv reported, because no German or European model matched them on quality and price. Drones already bought may still be used, Augen geradeaus reports from the directive; hartpunkt reads it as barring listed-state drones in future.
The Staatenliste was built to vet people, and as a procurement filter it removes the suppliers of the European army that uses small drones in combat most. The list is the annex to the security-clearance form; the 2023 order applied its category to China only, the 2026 directive applies all 26 entries. The money is small: about EUR 26 million over two years buys the training layer, from Europe or the United States, as Augen geradeaus notes. Signal No. 188 traced the retirement to the directive. The first central purchase under the new rule will show whether European commercial quadcopters can replace the DJI fleet at the price that made DJI the choice in 2024.
