France will order 2,000 kamikaze drones – remotely operated munitions, in the jargon. 100 of these machines will be delivered as a priority to the Ukrainian army by the summer.
The French army’s equipment in terms of combat drones will expand in the coming months. Thursday February 29, the Minister of the Armed Forces confirmed the order for 2,000 remotely operated munitions (MTO) from the French defense industry. These MTOs are another way of describing what turn out to be kamikaze drones, loaded with explosives.
The purchase of these drones will partly go to Ukraine, with a batch of 100 drones to be delivered by summer 2024. They will be manufactured by the Delair company. Based in Toulouse, it already equips the French army with the UX11 model. This drone specializing in mapping has an autonomy of almost an hour and a range of around 50 km.
The 1,900 drones remaining to be produced will be entrusted to two manufacturers, Delair and Novadem, supported respectively by Nexter and MBDA, reports La Dépêche. The distribution of the effort has not been specified between the two companies, nor the sharing between what should go to the French army and the Ukrainian army.
“ Kamikaze drones are absolutely fundamental in the conduct of operations », Underlined the Minister of the Armed Forces during his visit to the Delair premises. They are a “ complement of the Caesar cannon in terms of artillery. » It is also a solution perceived as easier to deliver and mass produce.
Intensive use of drones in the Ukrainian theater
Given the reality of high-intensity warfare, it is plausible that these first 100 remotely operated munitions will be quickly consumed on the front. In September 2023, the Royal United Services Institute estimated that Ukraine was losing more than 300 drones per day (and up to 10,000 drones per month).
Many Internet users have also pointed this out on X (formerly Twitter), in response to the message published by Sébastien Lecornu. “ The war economy » that the government regularly describes does not translate today into colossal production volumes. However, certain production rates have been significantly increased.
The use of kamikaze drones is seen as a palliative to the shortage of shells for artillery. The Ukrainians fire 5,000 to 8,000 shells every day, while the Russians consume 10,000 to 15,000, according to a point given to the Senate in mid-January, reported by 20 Minutes. France produces “only” 3,000 per month.
If you liked this article, you will like the following: don’t miss them by subscribing to Numerama on Google News.