The deals with the Munich-based Helsing and Berlin-based Stark Defence are worth a combined 536 million euros ($632 million) for an unspecified number of drones, with options to expand the purchases into the billions of euros.

The German parliament's budget committee approved the deal on Wednesday despite some criticism over the involvement of billionaire US investor Peter Thiel in Stark Defence.

The defence ministry said the attack drones are expected to be deployed by 2027 to Lithuania, where Germany is stationing a brigade to deter Russia and bolster NATO's defences.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who last week called for clarity about Thiel's "influence" at Stark Defence, said on Wednesday that he was satisfied with details provided by the company.

Stark Defence has stated that Thiel's stake in the company is less than 10 percent, and that the controversial investor has no special access to technical details or insight into operational decisions.

"This has been confirmed to us in writing by the contractor, and there are absolutely no concerns," Pistorius told reporters after briefing lawmakers in Berlin.

Thiel, an outspoken right-wing libertarian and confidante of US President Donald Trump, has come under fire from some German politicians over comments expressing hostility to liberal democracy.

The order agreed Wednesday is just the beginning of a "multi-year programme totalling approximately 9 billion euros" to equip the German Armed Forces with attack drones, Andreas Schwarz, a member of the budget committee from the centre-left SPD, told AFP.

The committee capped the maximum order volume for each of the two companies involved at one billion euros each, the MP added.

Other industrial players will be able to participate in future drone orders, such as the German defence giant Rheinmetall.

Lethal unmanned drones were once highly controversial in Germany, with sharp political debates over whether the military should be allowed to acquire such weapons.

But the threat from Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the extensive use of drones in the fighting there, have largely pushed aside such concerns.

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