Germany's military aviation authority, the Luftfahrtamt der Bundeswehr (LufABw), has granted provisional airworthiness certification to the Rheinmetall LUNA NG unmanned reconnaissance system. According to Rheinmetall, the issued certificate represents an interim approval step toward full type certification, which remains in progress with the majority of required approval criteria already fulfilled.
The provisional certificate allows the Bundeswehr to conduct its own flight operations with the LUNA NG system for training and testing purposes. Rheinmetall confirmed that the first German military pilots and verifiers have already completed their official training on the unmanned aerial system type.
Prior to obtaining military approval, the LUNA NG system logged roughly 150 sorties totaling approximately 200 flight hours under civil operating licenses. Rheinmetall stated that the provisional airworthiness certification allows the reconnaissance drone to be integrated into regular restricted airspace while meeting civil safety standards, ending its confinement strictly to designated military zones.
Mike Schmidt, CEO of Rheinmetall's Air Unmanned Space business unit, explained that the certification process was conducted against the same rigorous standards applied to large commercial aircraft such as the Airbus A320. Key safety-critical components, including the autopilot and navigation systems, had to be engineered and certified in-house because no certified off-the-shelf equivalents were available for tactical unmanned aircraft.
The German armed forces are introducing the system under the military designation HUSAR. A contract amendment executed on September 28, 2023, covers 12 production systems and one pilot system valued at approximately 200 million euros (231 million dollars). Each complete system comprises five aircraft, two ground control stations, two launcher vehicles, two antenna masts, a dedicated repair shop, and three transport platforms. Rheinmetall specifies that each aircraft features a maximum takeoff weight of 110 kilograms, a maximum altitude of 5,000 meters, and an operating endurance of more than 12 hours.
