HX-2 and Virtus Loitering Munitions Weeks From Qualification — Pistorius Wants Drone Regiment to Support Panzerbrigade 45

On 1 October Pistorius announced the first drone regiment for 2027, in the divisional troops of the 10th Armoured Division, with about 300 soldiers at initial capability and about 600 at full strength; Panzerbrigade 45 belongs to the same division, so the assignment places the regiment's work with the division's forward brigade. In February the budget committee approved about EUR 270 million each for HX-2 and Virtus, the first call-offs of a framework of up to EUR 4.4 billion, under a binding resolution capping each maker at EUR 1 billion and requiring fresh approval for further call-offs. STARK said in September its first deliveries go to the brigade in Lithuania.

Qualification, not the regiment, decides when the brigade's munitions arrive. The regiment is a 2027 formation that the ministry says is being set up now; the brigade is to receive the weapons from next year in either case. Deliveries were approved subject to acceptance trials, and "a few weeks" from 29 October puts the end of qualification at the turn of the year. Each call-off beyond February's first also needs the committee's approval, so the qualification date sets the earliest point at which the larger orders can follow. Qualification would also settle whether HX-2 and Virtus enter service together, as the ministry's October wording of a comparable status implies, or one ahead of the other. Signal No. 178 carried the minister's timeline.