France : DGA places its first order for long-range remotely operated munitions

On 30 December 2025, the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) placed an order for long-range remotely operated munitions from a temporary consortium formed by the French industrial group MBDA and the French company Aviation Design.

The first batch of these remotely operated munitions will be delivered to the armed forces by the DGA in mid-2027.

These remotely operated munitions have a range of more than 500 kilometres and can operate at a speed of 400 km/h.

Remotely operated munitions use dual-use drone technologies combined with military payloads. For this unprecedented order of remotely operated munitions with a range exceeding 500 kilometres, the DGA relied on the Air Defence Drone Pact, signed on 17 June 2024, which makes it possible to align the armed forces’ requirements with industrial capabilities.

In order to field this new capability as early as 2027 at an optimised cost, the statement of requirements was deliberately left open, with a limited number of requirements, to allow room for industrial innovation and to optimise the project’s costs and timelines. The competition was then conducted in less than six months, including a phase of pre-contractual trials.

Drone specialist Aviation Design partnered with munitions specialist MBDA to propose a concept combining a jet-powered flying wing and a 40-kilogram military warhead. By relying on dual-use technologies, the project took into account, from its very inception, the need for mass production through a simplified system design and an adapted supply chain.

The 500-kilometre range of these munitions will enable tactical deep-strike missions, for example against command posts or logistical installations. The employment of these munitions, which are capable of operating in a jammed electromagnetic environment, is also intended to exhaust the adversary’s air defence systems through salvo launches of multiple munitions.

(English translation from a Press Release in French)

Source: Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans