France sets its sights on hundreds more small UAVs
The French Army operates Black Hornet 3 nanodrones. (Photo: FLIR Systems)
An RfP from the French military calls for 500 nanodrones and microdrones, as part of a broader vision to strengthen its UAV fleet. Responses are due by 25 May.
Industry has exactly one week left to answer a French RfP for 500 nanodrones and microdrones over the next four years, partly as a consequence of counter-terrorism operations in West Africa.
The RfP does not cite specific performance requirements but it reflects a strong appetite in the French Army and French Navy to strengthen their UAV stocks: the latter wants to offer compact drones for each unit of marines as well as every vessel, while the former is targeting a fleet of 3,000 UAVs by 2023 (more than double the 1,300 mentioned by Chief of Staff General Thierry Burkhard
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