Germany’s military aviation authority has granted provisional airworthiness certification to the Rheinmetall LUNA NG unmanned reconnaissance system.
The Luftfahrtamt der Bundeswehr (LufABw) certificate is an interim step toward full type certification, which Rheinmetall said remains in progress. The company said the majority of the criteria required for full approval have been met, without specifying which remain outstanding.
The provisional certificate allows the Bundeswehr to conduct its own flight operations with the system for training and testing. Rheinmetall said the first German military pilots and verifiers had completed training on the type.
LUNA NG logged 200 flight hours before military approval
Before receiving military approval, the system completed roughly 150 sorties totaling approximately 200 flight hours under civil operating licenses, according to Rheinmetall.
Mike Schmidt, CEO of Rheinmetall’s Air Unmanned Space business unit, said certification was conducted against the same standards applied to large aircraft such as the Airbus A320. Safety-critical components, including the autopilot and navigation systems, had to be developed and certified in-house because no certified equivalents were available for tactical unmanned aircraft, he added.
Rheinmetall said the approval allows LUNA NG to be integrated into “regular, restricted airspace” while meeting civil safety standards, removing its confinement to purely military areas. Compliance with aviation testing procedures could ultimately permit regular operations over densely populated European territory, according to the company.
Bundeswehr ordered 13 HUSAR systems
The Bundeswehr is introducing LUNA NG under the designation HUSAR. Rheinmetall took over the program from the original manufacturer, EMT, after the company became insolvent.
A contract amendment signed on September 28, 2023, covered 12 production systems and one pilot system, with a total value of approximately €200 million ($231 million). The first production system was scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2025. Rheinmetall did not provide an updated delivery schedule in its certification announcement.
Each system comprises five aircraft, two ground control systems, two launcher vehicles, two antenna masts, a repair shop and three transport platforms. Rheinmetall gives the aircraft a maximum takeoff weight of 110 kilograms (242 pounds), a maximum altitude of 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) and endurance of more than 12 hours.
Rheinmetall also agreed in August 2023 to supply LUNA NG systems to Ukraine under a deal the company then valued in the low double-digit million-euro range.