diff --git a/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-11 b/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-11
index fca32c0f..619ba2e2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-11
+++ b/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-11
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
+# stick to awscli v1.x, 2.x is not available through PyPI (see https://github.com/aws/aws-cli/issues/4947)
+ARG awscliversion=1.32.22
+
 FROM debian:11-slim
+ARG awscliversion
 
 COPY bootstrap-prefix.sh /usr/local/bin/bootstrap-prefix.sh
 
@@ -12,6 +16,14 @@ RUN python3 -m venv --system-site-packages /opt/ansible && \
     ln -s /opt/ansible/bin/ansible* /usr/local/bin/ && \
     deactivate
 RUN chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/bootstrap-prefix.sh
+# tools for deploying tarballs
+RUN apt-get install -y curl jq
+RUN python3 -m venv --system-site-packages /opt/awscli && \
+    . /opt/awscli/bin/activate && \
+    pip3 install --upgrade pip && \
+    pip3 install awscli==${awscliversion} && \
+    ln -s /opt/awscli/bin/aws /usr/local/bin/ && \
+    deactivate
 
 ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 ENV PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
diff --git a/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-13 b/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-13
index 1597f4ba..eab7e95a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-13
+++ b/Dockerfile.bootstrap-prefix-debian-13
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
+# stick to awscli v1.x, 2.x is not available through PyPI (see https://github.com/aws/aws-cli/issues/4947)
+ARG awscliversion=1.32.22
+
 FROM debian:trixie-20250520-slim
+ARG awscliversion
 
 COPY bootstrap-prefix.sh /usr/local/bin/bootstrap-prefix.sh
 
@@ -12,6 +16,14 @@ RUN python3 -m venv --system-site-packages /opt/ansible && \
     ln -s /opt/ansible/bin/ansible* /usr/local/bin/ && \
     deactivate
 RUN chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/bootstrap-prefix.sh
+# tools for deploying tarballs
+RUN apt-get install -y curl jq
+RUN python3 -m venv --system-site-packages /opt/awscli && \
+    . /opt/awscli/bin/activate && \
+    pip3 install --upgrade pip && \
+    pip3 install awscli==${awscliversion} && \
+    ln -s /opt/awscli/bin/aws /usr/local/bin/ && \
+    deactivate
 
 ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 ENV PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH