New Tactical UAV will Upgrade French Army Capabilities

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The French army will upgrade its capabilities with the arrival of the new Patroller tactical UAVs next year. The new system will bring about increased performance with a lower logistics footprint for reconnaissance operations and other missions, industry and military officials said.

In 2016, the French government’s Directorate General of Armaments DGA signed a contract with the defense and electronics firm Safran to procure the next-generation remotely piloted aircraft to replace its current fleet of Sperwer drones. Those aircraft, also developed by Safran, have been used by the army since 2004 for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and target acquisition. Recurring technical problems and software obsolescence issues, as well as a limited ground control station, have appeared in recent years.

The Patroller procurement contract includes two ground systems and 14 drones — 10 operational units and four training systems — along with in-service support. Deliveries are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2019.

Patrick Durieux, vice president of unmanned aerial vehicles and airborne surveillance systems at Safran, said the Patroller’s size, weight and payload capacities are four to five times larger than the previous system. It has a wing space of 18 meters, compared to just over four meters for the Sperwer. It possesses more than twice the range and three times the flight endurance of its predecessor, he added.

The airframe is affordable and optimized for operations from small airfields with limited resources and personnel, he said. It allows the Patroller to operate silently and deploy from rough runways, he added, according to nationaldefensemagazine.org.

The Sperwer system is catapult-launched and retrieved via parachute. As a result, the aircraft’s logistic footprint will be significantly reduced, he noted. Removing the catapult frees up space for additional payloads, and the army no longer needs to send troops to follow the parachute or trucks to recover the UAV.

The Patroller can carry over 550 pounds of payloads, a significant increase from the Sperwer. That allows the system to be more modular and capable of carrying different sensor packages, he noted. Safran also upgraded its mission systems for the new UAV, he said.

The company installed its latest generation Euroflir 410 turret, which includes 10 sensors — eight more than in the Sperwer system — and six video channels “to cover the complete observation spectrum,” Durieux said. It also contains four laser systems: a range finder, pointer, designator for weapon guidance and illuminators.

The Patroller will also be the first unmanned aerial system to be formally certified according to the internationally recognized and NATO-endorsed Stanag 4671 standard. Safran will be the certificate holder and responsible for continued airworthiness, Durieux said.

The company designed the system to carry a wide range of additional sensors under the wing as needed by the army, such as an electronic warfare package or maritime radar. It will also be capable of carrying weapons, as the French army has expressed a desire for armed drones in the future. Safran is looking at a variety of systems that could be compatible with the aircraft, such as laser-guided rockets or missile systems.