French Armaments Agency Invites Bids to Supply Attack Drones

The French Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) has invited bids for the procurement of attack drones.

Drones initially equipped with payloads dedicated to intelligence (optical path sensors (visible/IR), detection of radio emissions, etc.) now come fitted with active operational payloads allowing a capacity to neutralize targets.

The Ministry of the Armed Forces is conducting and preparing several armament operations in the field of contact drones and tactical drones. In order to support these actions, to deepen knowledge of the field, to explore use cases, while stimulating the ecosystem for the proposal of innovative concepts, the DGA and the Defense Innovation Agency (AID) are launching two projects: LARINAE and COLIBRI.

Under the LARINAE project, France wants to procure a low-cost system for neutralizing "long elongation" targets i.e. beyond 50km from its point of implementation. The drone should be able to destroy different types of targets such as armored vehicles and ships, and must have an endurance of more than one hour. It must also have the ability to neutralize targets moving at 50kmph. Proposals for responses to this call for projects are expected by July 6, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.

Companies should demonstrate the drones between 12 and 18 months after the start of the project.

The French military wants a drone that can be operated from an aircraft carrier under its COLIBRI program. It should have minimum endurance in flight must be 30 min over an area of ​​interest located 5 km from the point of implementation. This should also have the capacity to neutralize a moving target (approximately 50 km/h). Companies should demonstrate the drones between 9 and 12 months after the start of the project.