French army orders 150 new Parrot micro-drones for reconnaissance and intelligence missions.

The equipment in collective micro-drone systems meets an operational need of the three services (land, air, sea), both for conventional forces and for special forces. These systems will be provided in many units, and will constitute additional tools in the package of troops deployed in operations, aboard French Navy ships, or for the protection of military sites.
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Parrot micro-drone (Picture source: ANAFI)

The micro-drone from the ANAFI family, specially adapted to meet military needs, is a quadcopter weighing less than 500 grams. It has observation capacities both day and night, and a flight range of around 30 minutes. Able to detect human-sized targets with great precision up to 2 km away, particularly discreet and even inaudible over 130 meters, it can be set up in less than a minute. Unlike other drones already in the French forces, this micro-drone can be used by non-specialist operators after a short training. It meets the requirements of the DGA in terms of cybersecurity and securing the data link. Each system has two vectors. 150 systems are ordered.

The DGA chose Parrot as part of a European call for tenders launched in February 2020. The five-year contract provides for the delivery of several hundreds drone systems and additional equipment, pilot training, as well as the possibility of adaptive developments. It is expected that orders will be placed each year, the experience feedback acquired by the end of 2021 then making it possible to specify the target of orders and the delivery rates.

At the end of the five years of the framework agreement, the distribution targeted is a priori 60% for the Army, 28% for the Navy and 12% for the Air and Space Force.

Parrot micro-drone (Picture source: ANAFI)