Drones steal the spotlight at Paris Air Show

LE BOURGET, France - Drones of all shapes and sizes designed to carry more weapons or directly deliver explosives are everywhere at the Paris Air Show, matching

the scale of their deployment on Ukrainian battlefields.

One French firm, Turgis and Gaillard, is showing off an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that it hopes will be snapped up by the country’s army – until now reliant on American-made Reaper models.

Weighing in at 5.5 tonnes and able to stay aloft for up to 24 hours, the Aarok drone “fills a capacity gap in the French armed forces”, said managing director Patrick Gaillard, adding: “We had the best of everything in France as far as radars, missiles, sensors go, everything except the plane itself.”

With development costs so far of “more than €10 million (S$14.8 million)”, the production model should be “less expensive” than the Reaper (up to US$20 million, or S$27 million, per unit) and will have no American components, avoiding onerous export authorisations.

That characteristic could fit in with French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial ambition for European “strategic autonomy” from other poles of world power, including the United States.

Falling into the medium-altitude, long-endurance class, the Aarok can carry out surveillance or hit a target to within 2m from 35km away.

Europe lags behind

The staff at General Atomics’ stand are not worried to see new competitors on the market.

“All sizes of unpiloted aircraft are the future,” said the firm’s marketing chief Mark Brinkley, who was in Paris to show off the latest Reaper MQ-9B currently being delivered to Britain.

At the Airbus stand, the European manufacturer boasts a mock-up of its Eurodrone, for which it scored a €7.1 billion contract in February.

The Berlin-led project launched in 2015 is supposed to provide German, French, Italian and Spanish armed forces with drones comparable with the Reaper.

But its first flight is scheduled only in 2026, with actual deliveries two years later – a full 25 years after the American aircraft hit the market.

There was better news at the air show for French manufacturer Safran, which snagged a Greek order for four of its Patroller UAVs, while first deliveries to the French army will arrive this summer.

Self-detonating drones

France and other European nations are also “quite behind” in developing self-detonating drones, also known as loitering munitions, said French Senator Cedric Perrin, who has written several reports on the weapons.

“This is a big deal, so (the) industry is getting more and more interested in it,” he added.

Major defence manufacturer KNDS said on Monday that it had been chosen alongside two other firms to develop a French loitering munitions device comparable with the US-made Switchblade, boasting a range of 80km.

First tests should come “within 18 months”, the companies said.

Meanwhile, Israeli company BlueBird Aero Systems on Wednesday showcased a self-detonating drone that it said could land a 2.5kg explosive within 1m of its target.

The ecosystem surrounding UAVs also offers business opportunities, with Sogitec – a branch of aerospace giant Dassault – soon to complete a simulator known as Genius to train pilots on different types of drones.

A demonstration allows users to zoom around a map and fly over an imaginary airport with three helicopters parked on the tarmac.

Other training scenarios covering infrastructure, desert or residential areas are also on offer.

“We can create hand-made environments for the customer,” said product chief Stephane Morelli. AFP