Safran ended up winning the battle against its French rival, Thales, but also against time. Three years late, the Patroller tactical drone has obtained certification from the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA), allowing the Army to have 14 units delivered, seven after the first firm order. The good news fell two days before the 2022 results of the manufacturer of aircraft engines and civil and military electronic equipment: a net profit of 1.18 billion euros (+ 55%) and a turnover of 19 billion (+24.8%), despite inflation and tensions in the supply chain – still present this year.
One of the main lessons of a year of war in Ukraine has been the neutralization of aviation and the massive use of different types of drones to overhang the theaters of operations, collect information and attack in depth. “The Patroller is ready to be used in operations”, welcomes Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran, stating that he can arm them very quickly if the government decides. For now, it is intended to monitor an area within a radius of 150 kilometers and designate targets.
“Deep reorganization”
The first high-intensity conflict in Europe since the Second World War revealed that the defense industry, in France as elsewhere, was not prepared to supply in sufficient quantities. “The current rate of ammunition use by Ukraine is much higher than our rate of production”, recently summed up Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO. Same observation in Paris: France has entered a “war economy”says Emmanuel Macron, who asks Nexter (artillery), MBDA (missiles), Naval Group, Thales or Safran to produce “more”, “faster” and at lower cost.
This imposes a “deep reorganization” of the industrial base, according to the Head of State. And a major effort by the armies to simplify the specifications requested from manufacturers, sources of significant additional costs (study, manufacturing, tests, etc.). Clearly, better adapt the standards of weapons to their actual conditions of use, without sacrificing the safety of soldiers or the effectiveness of equipment. They must be calibrated “as needed”believes Mr. Andriès, who says he is ready to play the role of“pilot operator” an approach encouraged by the DGA. The armies will be endowed with 413 billion euros between 2024 and 2030; they know that this unprecedented effort for thirty years does not exempt them from a duty of rigour.