Military drones in the Austrian Armed Forces: commercial training drones pave the way for instruction

Fielding of “combat-technical unmanned military aircraft” – small military drones – has recently begun. A key challenge is first creating the conditions for operating them. The Air Materiel Department (Luftzeugabteilung) has therefore procured several commercially available “training drones”. With them, the land forces are to train the required number of military drone operators qualified as instructors in advance.

Training at the Heerestruppenschule (Army school) begins with type training for already qualified military drone operators, most of them from the reconnaissance branch. These soldiers are then to be upskilled as instructors, so that training can continue across the major formations on a snowball principle.

Around 300 military drones in the first step

Following the type decision in summer, the “combat-technical unmanned military aircraft” are expected as early as the third to fourth quarter of 2024. Around 300 of the small drones are currently to be procured in a first step.

They are to be used for close-range reconnaissance and force protection at platoon level (Jäger/armoured/mechanised infantry), for reconnaissance at section level and for special tasks in the military police, CBRN defence troops or engineers.

By early 2025, all land forces battalions are to have received these small drones for close range and platoon-level force protection (Jäger/armoured/mechanised infantry). In subsequent years, dedicated drones are to be procured for the battalions' reconnaissance platoons and for the reconnaissance companies of the reconnaissance and artillery battalions.