The business of making military drones could be the defense sector’s biggest bubble, the chief executive of rapidly growing arms giant Rheinmetall said. Drones—or unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs—emerged as a crucial part of war in Ukraine and arms makers including Lockheed Martin, Anduril and a host of startups are either producing them or announcing ambitious plans to do so. Rheinmetall’s Armin Papperger is perhaps the first well-known figure in the defense industry to question the foundations of this rapidly expanding market. He leads the world’s fastest-growing big defense company in terms of market value. Its share price has surged since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to top 86 billion euros, equivalent to $100.91 billion, compared with about 4.2 billion euros just before the war began. “I’m personally not convinced that the UAV business is as big as a lot of people think,” Papperger said in an interview at the Defence and Security Equipment International fair in London. “I believe that the UAV business could be a big bubble.”

Full report : European defense major Rheinmetall’s CEO Armin Papperger not convinced the UAV business is as big as many think.