A video posted on X shows the device plunging towards its target, before exploding on contact. The very first French “kamikaze drones”, or “suicide drones”, are now operational, and will be tested “in the coming weeks” in the theater of operations in Ukraine.
The Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced a few days ago “the success of the tests of the Delair and KNDS drone” which will be “entrusted to Ukraine and delivered to our forces in the coming weeks”, and welcomed that France “now has its own suicide drones, or remotely operated munitions (MTO). »
A unit cost of around 20,000 euros
Launched in April 2022, this project brought together KNDS France, a juggernaut of the defense industry, responsible for designing the ammunition, and Delair, an SME of 150 people based in Labège near Toulouse, which takes care of the “air vector. » This led to the Colibri program, a drone with an autonomy of 45 minutes which can travel around twenty kilometers (elongation) and carry a military load of 500 grams. “A hundred drones will be delivered at the beginning of November to France, which will be responsible for transporting them to the Ukrainians,” explains Bastien Mancini, president of Delair. We started with an UX-11 drone, developed for civilian use, and we diverted it from its use to meet specific military needs. » Its cost would be around 20,000 euros.
“The ammunition on Colibri is intended to neutralize static targets and light moving vehicles, for example a pick-up moving at 50 km/h on a track,” explains Gabriel Massoni, spokesperson for KNDS France. The drone “is made to be deployed in a few minutes by any infantryman on the battlefield, without specialized training”, he adds, and “its minimal bulk allows it to be carried in a bag”. Finally, “it can resist jamming of communication channels, which can be experienced in particular on the battlefield in Ukraine”.
Already 150 observation drones delivered to Ukraine
Even if it was a few months late, this suicide drone program was implemented in a little over two years, “an exceptional deadline”, we underline at KNDS France, after a call for tenders. launched in April 2022 by the Defense Innovation Agency (AID) and the DGA (Directorate General of Armaments). “A standard ammunition at KNDS takes between five and seven years to be developed, so the speed of execution of this project is incommensurate with what has been done until now,” insists Gabriel Massoni.
“The entire Colibri project is an innovation project to respond to the constraint of moving quickly, for this it was necessary to change traditional methods,” confirms Bastien Mancini. After proposing our project, we provided a demonstrator in less than a year, which is very fast since developing a drone usually takes us three years. Then the Minister of the Armed Forces announced last February an order for the Ukrainian forces. It was therefore necessary to go from prototype to an operational object in less than six months to go to the front. »
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Delair had already delivered 150 observation drones to Ukraine for more than a year, “which are used on a daily basis in war conditions, some having missiles fired at them, others having to face GPS jamming, all this allowed us to have very valuable field feedback, which we took into account” for these kamikaze drones. “But you have to remain humble, because things are changing very quickly in this area. »
“Drones are now essential in a battlefield”
The year 2025 should see French forces gradually equip themselves with this weapon. The Minister of the Armed Forces announced that he wanted to provide them with 2,000 MTOs, even if the order has not yet been placed. “We know how to do at least 1,000 per year, but if there are orders that go beyond that, we will be able to adapt,” assures Bastien Mancini.
“Drones are now essential in a battlefield,” explains the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, in his book released at the start of the school year, Towards war? (Ed. Plon). “This is an element that differentiates the war in Ukraine from previous conflicts,” he continues. However, too little equipment is actually in service in our armed forces. An unsatisfactory situation and which constitutes one of our greatest failures. This is why we questioned the overall strategy. »
Soon a drone to pierce tank armor?
The drone should also make it possible to avoid depleting missile stocks. “At a time when Iran is supplying Russia or the Houthis with Shahed 136 drones worth $20,000,” continues Sébastien Lecornu in his work, “it seems unlikely that our ground-to-air or sea-to-air defenses will be concentrated mainly on response fire from Aster missiles at 3 million euros each (the cost of an Aster 15 is more like a million euros, and a Aster 30 worth two million euros). »
A second kamikaze drone program entitled Larinae, is also being developed between KNDS and the Bordeaux SME EOS Technologie and its Veloce 330 drone, to release a machine with an autonomy of 3 hours, an elongation of 80 km, and equipped with a charge 2.5 kg military.
A first test allowed this drone to travel 50 kilometers in 16 minutes at a top speed of 400 km/h. Presented as the equivalent of a “mini Shahed 238”, an Iranian drone, this weapon must be capable of piercing armor, in particular that of a tank.