After a year of joint work, GICAT and ADIF are today delivering a technological, industrial and capability roadmap for the supply of French aerial drones and remotely-operated munitions weighing less than 150kg to the French army.
Paris, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Recent conflicts in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Gaza, the Red Sea and above all Ukraine, have marked a turning point in the use and understanding of the role of aerial drones and MTOs (remotely operated munitions), which now play a central role on battlefields.
At a time when the United States and China are developing massive robotization/dronization projects - an unavoidable underlying trend for all nations with a defense force - France cannot afford to overlook this capability, if it wants to remain a leading technological military power and guarantee its strategic autonomy over the long term.
GICAT (Groupement des industries françaises de défense et de sécurité terrestres et aéroterrestres) and ADIF (Association du Drone de l'Industrie Française) therefore felt it was important to set up a working group (GT) a year ago to propose a technological, industrial and capability roadmap focusing on aerial UAVs and MTOs weighing less than 150 kg for the French army.
The WG came up with 20 main, concrete, pragmatic and realistic recommendations. Some of these recommendations are closely interrelated, allowing us to identify a number of key ideas and priorities:
- Set up a "defense drone pact" between MINARM and the industry, represented by GICAT and ADIF, to establish a real framework for regular dialogue between government and industry players.
- Consolidating and supporting the DTIB :
- Through an active policy of ordering products off-the-shelf as a priority, and by setting up new, dynamic and responsive processes for acquiring and managing programs, integrating the constraints of the war economy and encouraging manufacturers to carry out developments using their own funds;
- Bring the law of the market into play to bring out a few national champions by declaring UAVs and MTOs as sovereign systems so that France can maintain its strategic autonomy in this field;
- By implementing an ambitious, structured and concerted research and development (R&D) policy;
- By implementing the "trusted drone" system voted for in the LPM ;
- Accelerate the use of UAVs in the French Army by rapidly and fully equipping certain units with UAVs and calling on reservist remote pilots.
- Adapt the current LPM for UAVs and MTOs weighing less than 150kg, with a multi-year roadmap including financial flows and milestones for major acquisitions every year. The financial targets dedicated to UAVs/MTOs weighing less than 150kg should reach €250m/year by the end of the LPM, for acquisitions, R&D and industrial sovereignty.
As the WG formula has met with broad support from GICAT and ADIF members, it will continue its work in 2024, taking a closer look at certain subjects that have not yet been fully addressed, such as interfaces, artificial intelligence and the integration of UAVs on vehicles.
Press contact:
GICAT : Delphine SAMPIC : delphine.sampic@gicat.fr
