According to a press release issued on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, by the German industrial group Rheinmetall AG, unmanned aerial vehicles and loitering munitions have become increasingly important in modern warfare in recent years. Rheinmetall has responded to this development both in terms of producing such weaponry and developing defenses against it. Accordingly, the group is accelerating and expanding production volumes of these systems thanks to a new facility whose construction has been completed on the island of Sardinia, Italy.
Photo: Rheinmetall AG
A few months ago, Rheinmetall AG completed construction of a modern production facility for the assembly, testing, warhead manufacture, and integration of loitering munitions. Serial production is already running at full speed. The facility is operated by the Italian subsidiary RWM Italia S.p.A. at its sites in Musei and Domusnovas on Sardinia. Rheinmetall AG is carrying out the project in cooperation with Israeli unmanned systems manufacturer UVision Air Ltd., a partnership that began in October 2021.
Part of the production line is located at Rheinmetall’s Musei plant, where inert and electronic components are assembled and tested. Warheads are manufactured and integrated with the munitions at Rheinmetall’s Domusnovas factory.
The current product range includes:
Hero-30 – a small, man-portable loitering munition for infantry use. It has a launch weight of 3 kg, including a 0.5 kg warhead. The UAV is powered by a quiet electric motor, allowing it to reach targets at ranges of up to 40 km or to stay aloft for 30 minutes, with a maximum speed of 185 km/h. The weapon can be prepared for use in minutes and is launched pneumatically from a container launcher. Control is via the Hero OCU operator control unit.
Hero-120 – a medium-size loitering munition for precision strikes against armored vehicles and fixed targets. It measures 1.34 m in length with a cruciform wingspan of 1.4 m. It can carry a variety of higher-effect warheads – concrete-piercing, anti-armor, and fragmentation – with a warhead mass of 4.5 kg. An electric motor extends endurance to more than 1 hour, giving a range of up to 50 km, a standard cruise altitude of 457 m (1,500 ft) and a cruise speed of 185 km/h (100 kt). Minimum altitude is 365 m (1,200 ft) and maximum 914 m (3,000 ft). The mass of a single munition (including the launch container with built-in pneumatic launcher) is 18.1 kg. Targeting is provided by a three-axis-stabilized electro-optical seeker.
Hero-400 – a medium/long-range loitering munition for precision strikes against fortified positions. It is 2.1 m long, has a wingspan of 2.4 m and a launch mass of 40 kg, including a 10 kg warhead. It can engage targets at ranges from 30 to 150 km and reaches an altitude of 5,500 m. Loiter speed is 93 km/h, attack speed 278 km/h. A variant, Hero-400EC, features folding cruciform wings and an electric propulsion option instead of a gas engine.
The wider Hero family (not manufactured in Germany) also includes tactical Hero-70, operational Hero-250, and strategic Hero-900 and Hero-1250 munitions.
Current Rheinmetall AG orders for various types of Hero loitering munitions exceed 200 million EUR for deliveries to eight NATO and non-NATO countries in Europe.
Rheinmetall’s portfolio also includes its own drones and loitering munitions, including the LUNA NG reconnaissance UAV. Thanks to its UAS products, including those produced in Penzberg, Rheinmetall generated roughly 120 million EUR in sales in 2024. Rheinmetall also cooperates with other major industry players such as Lockheed Martin and Anduril Industries.
Counter-drone defense (C-UAS) is another area where Rheinmetall AG is a market leader. Its offering covers the full sensor-to-effector chain, from detection and identification to countermeasures such as jammers, gun-based air-defense systems (e.g., Skyranger), and high-energy laser weapons.
— Rheinmetall (@RheinmetallAG) October 8, 2025