France Qualifies DAMOCLES Short-Range Remotely Operated Munition after Trials

France’s defense procurement agency, the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), has qualified the DAMOCLES remotely operated munition after a live-fire test campaign, clearing the system for delivery to French forces.

The DAMOCLES system was developed by KNDS France in partnership with French drone manufacturer DELAIR under the Remotely Operated Munition – Short Range (MTO CP) program. The final qualification campaign included 10 live shots, all of which were successful, following several hundred blank test firings conducted over previous months.

KNDS said that the program moved from notification in the summer of 2024 to qualification and initial deliveries in just over a year.

Deliveries to the armed forces began in early December 2025, shortly after qualification, marking a compressed timeline for a new munition program managed and produced domestically.

DAMOCLES is a rotary-wing remotely operated munition equipped with a 550-gram fragmentation warhead designed by KNDS. The system draws on operational feedback from Ukrainian operators, which KNDS said informed its development and testing process.