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Sub-150-kg uncrewed aircraft systems, including Novadem’s tiny 1-kg NX70 multicopter, are the heart of France’s plans for a more advanced and capable drone industry geared toward war economy demands.
France has forged a pact with its fledgling drone industry to build the capacity to serve the country’s military and export needs.
As small drones achieve dramatic effects on the battlefields of Ukraine, France seeks the means to develop and produce—if necessary, at wartime scale—a variety of uncrewed air systems (UAS) weighing less than 150 kg (331 lb.). These UAS would range from loitering munitions and intelligence-gathering multicopters to swarming systems capable of delivering electronic warfare effects.
- Drone pact focuses on sub-150-kg UAS producers
- More than 50 French UAS companies have signed up
- France makes progress on loitering munition projects
Paris signed the drone pact with 50 companies, including primes, such as Airbus, Thales and Safran, as well as small and midsize enterprises, during the Eurosatory defense show here on June 17. This agreement marks the first step in the country’s drone action plan to equip its armed forces and gear up for what President Emmanuel Macron calls the “war economy,” which would align national industry to the needs of defense.
The effort aligns with military programming laws calling for Paris to spend about €5 billion ($5.4 billion) on UAS through 2030. These laws are akin to the UK’s Defense Drone Strategy published in February (AW&ST March 11-24, p. 37). Meanwhile, the U.S. is pursuing its Replicator initiative to acquire thousands of small, low-cost UAS through an adapted procurement method.
Development of drone technology is one component of what the French Army refers to as its four pillars for transformation: Be and Last, Act, Protect and Innovate. The army released a document just before Eurosatory that describes drone swarms as part of the Innovate pillar and “crucial to maintaining operational superiority.”
“Drones are changing the battlefield,” Gen. Erwan Salmon, head of the land armament operations management unit of the DGA French materiel agency that will oversee the initiative, told a roundtable at the show. The effort will lead to “standardization and harmonization,” he said, while procurement methods—currently focused on long-term, multiyear procurements of larger systems—will be adapted so that systems can be speedily purchased, allowing the armed forces to “keep up” with new technology.
Several French drone developers have been buoyed by orders from Ukraine, but domestic military orders so far have been insignificant. The challenge for the pact, French defense officials said at Eurosatory, will be to “structure and develop” a “fragmented” drone industry with numerous isolated small players largely focused on the commercial market. The effort aims to bolster cooperation and might perhaps prompt consolidation.
Ahead of the agreement, the French defense ministry’s Aeronautical Maintenance Directorate contracted with four companies—Delair, EOS Technologie, Survey Copter and Thales—to add their UAS to a catalog of systems approved by the organization. The inclusion of these UAS would enable speedy acquisition of the systems by any of the French armed services.
The initiative builds on calls from the French land defense and security industry association GICAT and French Industry Drone Association (ADIF) for closer cooperation with the domestic drone industry and for new acquisition processes that are more compatible and capable of keeping up with UAS technologies.
Industry figures are generally positive about the pact. “If we are going to invest in our capacity to produce, then we need an echo from the French state. . . . This provides it,” said Christophe Canguilhem, managing director of drone developer Survey Copter and head of light tactical UAS at Airbus Defense and Space, which has owned Survey Copter since 2011.
Canguilhem says the most significant benefit of the initiative will be the development of a sovereign supply chain for key components, such as engines, data links and autopilots. Many French drone producers rely on suppliers from outside France and even outside Europe for components and payloads.
“Today, we are looking toward European manufacturers, but hopefully we will be able to turn to an entirely French supply chain for these components in the future,” Canguilhem said.
The French Army has about 3,000 UAS in its inventory, ranging from the Safran Patroller medium-altitude, long-endurance motorized glider-based platform to battlefield multicopters operated by forward troops for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
One of the success stories emerging from France’s UAS market is the rapid development of the Colibri and Larinae loitering munitions through projects that the DGA launched in 2022. Colibri, developed by Delair and KNDS with a 45-min. endurance and 25-km (15.5-mi.) range, is entering service this summer and is on contract for Ukraine. The larger jet-powered Larinae will be able to loiter for 3 hr. and carry a 3-kg penetrator warhead to deal with armored targets. Larinae is being developed by EOS Technologie, Traak and KNDS and will be tested with inert charges in 2025, according to KNDS.
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