The 21-year-old is now a strike pilot in France’s first dedicated drone-combat squadron, crouching in nettles and tall grass as he guided an FPV drone down a forest path at the Mailly-le-Camp training area east of Paris during a June exercise of the 1st Marine Infantry Regiment, or 1er RIMa.

“We’re switching specialties, we’re keeping up with the times,” said the corporal, who last year still manned the gunner seat in the AMX 10 RC armored car.

Inspired by the war in Ukraine, the 1er RIMa converted one of its three light cavalry squadrons into an experimental all-drone unit, with results so convincing that the Army is rushing more drone formations into service. The aim is for around 15 drone-combat units by summer 2027 and more by the end of next year, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jacques de Montgros said this month.

France deployed a drone-combat unit to Romania for the first time in recent weeks as part of Mission Aigle, the French-led mission to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, and will deploy a second unit to Poland for an exercise next month, de Montgros told lawmakers in an Oct. 14 hearing. “So we’re really at a point of scaling up our efforts in these areas.”

The 1er RIMa’s experimental squadron has provided a blueprint to create more tactical drone formations, while offering the French Army a lesson in the vulnerability of NATO-style combined-arms tactics to drone threats. During exercises this year, the regiment’s pilots hunted armored vehicles and command posts of the opposing force, disrupting maneuver and force buildup.

Mixing surveillance drones, FPV one-way attack drones and loitering munitions, the 1er Escadron de Drones de Chasse, which roughly translates as 1st Hunter-Drone Squadron, has also been a test bed for the Army, partnering with French firms to work on swarming technology, autonomous terminal guidance and launch canisters.

France’s first drone squadron grew from an idea within the 1er RIMa’s training and operations office in late 2023, to develop a way of fighting with drones that went beyond just adding them to existing units. The concept built on a proposal by Capt. Guillaume, an open-source intelligence specialist who had been studying the war in Ukraine.

When the office tested an experimental drone unit in a tactical exercise, the drones created “a crazy amount of disruption,” said Col. Aymeric Caussin, commander of the 1er RIMa, who headed the office at the time. “So we said, right, let’s go for it.”

Cavalry heritage

Drawing on the regiment’s light cavalry heritage, the squadron was designed as a mobile force with drones as its weapons system, said Lt. Col Remi, who worked to implement the idea during a two-year stint in the 1er RIMa. Light cavalry principles still applied: gather intelligence, then fix, outflank and ultimately destroy the enemy, with a focus on mobility, dispersion and stealth.

“We needed a squadron that evoked the light cavalry: ‘drone’ because that’s its primary weapon system, and ‘hunter’ because that’s what we actually do in the field.”

The regiment tested the concept during Exercise Hedgehog in Estonia in May 2025, sending some 10 drone pilots as part of a French combined-arms tactical group. The U.S. 5th squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment served as the designated opposing force during the exercise, with dismounted soldiers and M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported how Ukrainian operators taking part in the exercise exposed the vulnerability of NATO troops to drone warfare. The French team equally showed the impact of drones on an opponent unprepared for the threat.

The French pilots, who made up around 5% of the tactical group’s active strength, accounted for 20% of the attrition inflicted on the opposing force of American troops with Bradleys in a single day of combat, said Maj. Sylvain, head of operations at the 1er RIMa, who attended the exercise.

The virtual devastation convinced French Army leaders to scale up the experiment. Within two months, the drone squadron was made official, and in early April 2026 the Army staff declared it “fully operational.”

“It was the proof of concept,” Maj. Sylvain said. “Everything falls into place, everyone is supportive of the project, and the regiment decides to transform the first squadron into a hunter-drone squadron.”

The drone team also brought several startups to Estonia for Hedgehog 25, including Alta Ares and Icarus Swarms, while Naval Group joined at its own expense. The 1er RIMa works with Alta Ares on AI-enabled detection and reconnaissance, Icarus Swarms on autonomous navigation and computer-assisted piloting, and Naval Group on drone-launch canisters.

The drone squadron has continue to rack up the virtual kills since Hedgehog. During France’s large-scale exercise Orion 2026, the 1er RIMa’s drone pilots tallied four regimental command posts, a number of logistics convoys and anti-drone and air-defense units, according to Caussin.

‘Quite a bit of damage’

What made the drone-combat unit stand out was its responsiveness, with FPV drones able to quickly close gaps in the lines and attack the main axis of enemy efforts, and its ability to disrupt the enemy command structures, particularly by directly targeting command posts, Caussin said.

“Through the drone, we’ll seek to disrupt the enemy’s chain of command. We’re influencing decision-making.”

Orion 2026 showed that distance no longer protects. The squadron’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones detected tactical command posts several kilometers from the front line, then called in artillery or directed FPV drones to attack, said Staff Sgt. Tristan, who leads a platoon of FPV pilots after about 12 years on the AMX 10 RC.

The regiment inflicted “quite a bit of damage” with drones and artillery, “but had it been the other way around, it would have been the same,” Staff Sgt. Tristan said. “If we’d been facing a unit like ours and we would have stayed in the AMX 10 RC, well, we would’ve been wiped out a lot too, right? So you have to put things in perspective.”

During an exercise in March at Mailly-le-Camp, the 1er RIMa acted as the opposing force during the combat preparation of another French light-cavalry regiment. The drone squadron’s pilots attacked and virtually destroyed enemy armor, or would track vehicles to command posts or troop concentrations before striking, paralyzing enemy movement.

The result was “severe,” said FPV pilot Igor, who participated in the exercise. The opposing force was neutralized, at least virtually.

For the Army, the takeaway was that it wanted to equip five more regiments with an all-drone squadron, to be operational in 2027. With the Army accelerating its drone effort, the six combat-drone units will be operational by the year, said Gen. Bruno Baratz, head of Future Combat Command, at an innovation day organized by France’s 6th Armored Brigade in September.

The brigade, which was assigned to set up two of the five drone squadrons, decided to create a third drone-combat unit using its own resources, 6th Armored Brigade commander Gen. Maxime do Tran said at the innovation day. One of the brigade’s infantry regiments is now deployed to Romania with a drone-combat unit.

“The trial conducted by the 1st Marine Infantry Regiment demonstrated the value of this capability,” Do Tran said. “We didn’t wait.”

With the drone-combat squadron of the 1er RIMa “more of a cavalry, reconnaissance” unit, Do Tran says the 6th Armored Brigade has taken a slightly different approach for its infantry regiments, ensuring that drone pilots previously trained on the Akeron antitank missile or 81-millimeter mortars retain those skills through dual training.

He said the brigade staff realized that whenever the weather was unfavorable for drone operations, those dual capabilities were needed to retain lethality. Creating drone units also created a problem of mass, according to Do Tran.

During the brigade’s first combat-preparation exercises with combat-drones, commanders found that even if their drone pilots achieved initial saturation, a numerically strong enemy would still break through lines that lacked ground troops to stop a large force.

“We quickly get overwhelmed if we don’t also have men behind them with rifles or other weapons,” Do Tran said. “We need to maintain a certain balance between human mass and drone pilots.”

Combat-drone units will have different uses based on the regiment they’re part of, according to the general.

He said that for a light cavalry regiment such as the 1st RIMa, drones contribute to reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, while for an infantry regiment, the primary role will be delivering lethal firepower. For a regiment of Leclerc main battle tanks, the combat drone unit’s primary role is to protect the armored column, Do Tran said.

“It’s an entirely new set of rules to learn, an entirely new combination of capabilities to reinvent,” said Baratz. “The Army’s task today is to reinvent itself to be effective in this modern combat.”

Drone vulnerabilities

“We shouldn’t think that drones will make the old systems obsolete. Drones do have vulnerabilities: weather conditions, electronic jamming, other counter-drone systems being put in place. We still need our older systems for deep-strike operations, close-contact maneuvers and direct engagement.”

Officers of the 1er RIMa cautioned against over-interpreting the March exercise, with Maj. Sylvain saying the opposing regiment lacked adequate anti-drone capabilities and had few drones of its own, making an effective response difficult. Caussin likewise noted that during Orion, the exercise in free terrain limited realistic use of jamming by the opposing force.

“If we’re back in a tank tomorrow and opposite of us we have another drone unit, it’s going to be tough for us as well,” Staff Sgt. Tristan said. “So we need all this feedback to figure out how to fight back against that.”

For its own combat preparation in June, the 1er RIMa asked the Centac combined-arms training center that runs the exercises at Mailly-le-Camp to step up the challenge, particularly by creating a contested electronic warfare environment.

The training center also added 12-gauge shotguns to the infantry kit and emphasized camouflage. Soldiers unfolded camouflaged umbrellas bought at sporting goods store Decathlon whenever they were on the move, seeking to obscure their visual signature.

The umbrellas slowed the 1er RIMa’s drone operators, forcing them to spend more time identifying targets to avoid confusion with the numerous deer or boars at Mailly-le-Camp, said Lt. Col. Guillaume, head of training at the 1st Light Infantry Battalion that staffs the center.

The opposing force also remained more dispersed, avoided grouped movement and kept vehicles farther back, bringing them forward only when the situation was considered sufficiently safe. The transparency provided by drones clearly changed how the exercise unfolded and affected the conduct of operations, Lt. Col. Guillaume said.

While the drone advantage was less pronounced in June than in March, the 1er RIMa’s drone squadron obtained the best score of the roughly 30 Army units that passed through the Mailly-le-Camp training center over a 12-month period, Lt. Col. Guillaume said. The June exercise provided a better assessment of how the drone squadron fares against a more capable adversary, according to Caussin.

The regiment explored what might happen if the tactical deadlock observed in Ukraine were broken and maneuver is restored, with Caussin saying the drone squadron’s mobility would allow it to move rapidly between different parts of the battlefield, using drones to understand the tactical situation and fill gaps.

But the exercise also showed the battlefield overview provided by drones, while necessary to win an engagement, is not enough by itself. The speed at which intelligence can be converted into action is as important as the number of drones in the air, and traditional infantry elements remained necessary to provide direct kinetic action, Lt. Col. Guillaume said.

Jam detection

Electronic warfare reduced drone effectiveness on several occasions, allowing the opposing force to bring in armor to create a temporary advantage and secure objectives, said Lt. Col. Guillaume, describing a constant “game of cat and mouse.”

Because of the energy requirements of electronic warfare, jamming is not necessarily continuous. The regiment learned it needed to become better at determining when it was actually being jammed by the adversary, and when a failed maneuver was due to its own poor execution, according to Caussin.

For the regimental commander, the exercise confirmed the drone squadron complements rather than replaces armored formations, an additional layer to combined-arms warfare than a revolution. With the opponent better prepared for the drone threat, the June exercise forced the 1er RIMa to change how it employed drones, picking priority targets rather than observing and striking at will.

In a drone-saturated environment, advantage will come more from controlling the pace of events rather than simply holding ground, by combining drones and highly mobile forces to observe, adapt, and act faster than the adversary, according to Caussin.

He called the stand-out quality of the drone-combat unit its ability “manipulate the enemy’s decision-making time, really to overwhelm them” and allow the regiment to seize the initiative.

“Will the drone’s enemy be another drone?” Caussin said. “We’re starting to implement this to some extend in small-scale exercises, particularly at the regimental level.”

“It’s always difficult to talk about game-changers. What’s certain today is that this is the reality of the battlefield and it enables us to achieve tactical effects that have a decisive impact on the enemy.”

In the 1er RIMa, FVP pilots are teamed with a driver, a vehicle commander and optionally a fourth crew member operating a drone by Paris-based vendor Parrot, or other ISR system to designate targets. Cpl. Igor said he often works with one crew member as a spotter. The teams still carry Heckler & Koch rifles, a heavy machine gun to defend against enemy infantry, and an AT4 shoulder-fired antitank weapon.

Farther reach

With the 105 mm gun of the AMX 10 RC, “we had reach, but we were much more visible,” Staff Sgt. Tristan said. Now, “we hole up in a corner with our vehicle and launch our drones from hiding, so the enemy can’t see us. With an AMX 10 RC, we can’t do that.”

The regiment’s drone squadron retained the structure of an armored reconnaissance unit, with a command and logistics platoon and four combat platoons: an ISR unit, two FPV drone units and one platoon operating longer-range loitering munitions.

With around 100 drone pilots in a unit of 120 personnel, the squadron can provide intelligence and strike across an area typically covered by a formation several times larger, with an operational reach approaching that of a full combined-arms tactical group, according to Lt. Col. Remi.

The large number of drone operators changes logistics. Supply vehicles carry drones rather than ammunition, and the unit needs battlefield energy generation to keep batteries topped up. FPV pilot Igor said that during a day of exercise and simulated strikes, he might go through 10 or 20 drones.

Both Caussin and Maj. Sylvain emphasized drones alone will not decide a battle. The squadron is designed to operate alongside conventional units and slot into larger formations, with interoperability with French Army units and NATO allies built in from the start, said Maj. Sylvain.

In addition to developing doctrine, the regiment’s mandate is to work with industrial partners on technologies to make the drone squadron more effective. Once concept, described by officers and pilots as “queen and workers,” involves an operator controlling a mother drone, or queen, which in turn steers multiple worker drones launched from a “hive,” or canister.

The goal is essentially fire-and-forget autonomous engagement, according to Maj. Sylvain. An operator assigns a mission, the queen autonomously seeks and identifies the designated target, then directs worker drones to destroy it without further operator intervention.

With the squadron conceived as a mobile force rather than one dug in like Ukrainian operators, the idea is to have four hives at the back of a vehicle, with a stock of drones ready to deploy, Staff Sgt. Tristan said.

“Just open the hives, send out four drones on autopilot, and let them carry out their mission.”

While “not everything works perfect,” the squadron and its industry partners have figured out queen-worker communications and terminal guidance, Maj. Sylvain said.

FPV drone hit rates might be 5% to 10% for a novice pilot and 30% for an experienced one, compared with a more than 90% chance to land a shot with the AMX 10 RC cannon, according to Staff Sgt. Tristan. The regiment is counting on autonomous terminal guidance to increase drone hit rates to around 80% to 90%.

The squadron’s doctrinal goals include FPV strikes at a distance of 10 kilometers, and communication range is the main practical obstacle, Maj. Sylvain said. The ISR platoon uses several drone models from Parrot and is starting to achieve the ranges of up to 20 kilometers called for in the doctrine.

Officers in the 1er RIMa shied away from comparisons with Ukrainian drone units, which Maj. Sylvain said are battle-hardened after several years of war.

‘We’re not naive’

“It’s obvious that we’d learn a lot from an exercise against them,” he said. “We’re not naive. We’re fully aware of our current level of capability, and we know we still have a lot of work to do to be ready to deploy the drone-combat squadron in a high-intensity conflict.”

The June exercise was also an opportunity to work on defense against enemy UAVs.

“Camouflage ourselves, take cover, and make sure there’s always someone listening out for drones, either to destroy them with certain weapons or simply to hide,” Staff Sgt. Tristan said. “In the heat of battle, chasing down a vehicle, also staying alert for anti-drone is difficult.”

The constant drone threat changes daily life for soldiers on exercise. Rather than having fixed meal times, “you have to snack throughout the day,” said Staff Sgt. Tristan. Sleep also becomes fragmented, with drone surveillance continuing through the night.

The 1er RIMa itself has adapted its command structure to the drone presence, dividing up command posts and deploying in the same armored vehicles as combat units to avoid detection.

“We question ourselves, we wonder how we can protect ourselves from this too,” said Cpl. Igor, the FPV pilot. “If we’re capable of doing it, we’re not the only ones who know how. So we’re going to try to find ways to protect ourselves from drones, because they’re really effective.”

The federal government asked the defense department to continue evaluating the Barak MX developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and the SAMP/T NG from the Eurosam joint venture between MBDA and Thales, it said on Wednesday. In addition to technical, military and weapon-related aspects, the choice takes into account foreign-policy and economic-policy considerations, the federal council said.

Switzerland said in May it would evaluate long-range air-defense systems from manufacturers in Germany, France, Israel and South Korea, with a preference for a system produced in Europe, after delivery of the Patriot system was delayed by several years.

“The Federal Council considers it necessary to strengthen the country’s air defense to address the deteriorating geopolitical situation,” the government said. “Long-range ground-to-air defense systems are indispensable for this purpose, with an adequate supply of ammunition.”

The long-range systems, combined with short-range and medium-range systems as well as fighter aircraft, will allow Switzerland to counter attacks from a distance, including ballistic missiles, the government said.

“It is important that Switzerland can quickly equip itself, in addition to the Patriot, with a second system that meets its needs in light of the threat, allows to expand the protected area, and reduces dependence on a single supplier or a single supply chain,” the council said.

The council said it considered bids from four manufacturers in France, Israel and South Korea.

While the U.S. is prioritizing Patriot delivery to countries that have supplied their own systems to Ukraine, abandoning the Patriot purchase without a replacement system is not an option in the current situation, according to the government. It said discussions with the U.S. on delivery of Patriot systems are continuing.

Parliament is scheduled to review a government proposal for an additional 24 billion Swiss francs (US$30 billion) in defense and security spending during its winter session, including 6 billion francs to finance the second long-range air-defense system and a portion of the additional costs for Patriot, the federal council said.

Once the evaluations are complete and parliament has decided on funding for the armed forces, which is expected in early 2027, the council will decide on additional appropriation for the Patriot system and the next steps for the second long-range air-defense system, it said.

Switzerland previously agreed to buy Diehl Defence’s IRIS-T SLM system for medium-range air defense and the Oerlikon Skynex short-range system from Rheinmetall.

The French and British fighter jets flew a joint mission on Tuesday during the exercise Rummy, the French Armed Forces Ministry said in a statement on Friday, calling the drill a show of growing cooperation in the framework of an agreement last year for closer nuclear cooperation and coordination between the two countries.

France is working with several European allies on a concept of “forward deterrence” amid uncertainty around United States security guarantees for Europe in the face of an aggressive Russia. While both France and the U.K. operate strategic ballistic-missile submarines as a nuclear deterrent, France has an airborne component, which the U.K. lacks, in the shape of Rafale jets carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

“Having independent nuclear forces doesn’t exclude coordination,” French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said. “By coordinating, our nuclear forces demonstrate that they can contribute even more significantly to the overall security of the alliance and the peace and stability of the Euro-Atlantic zone.”

The British aircraft operated alongside those of France’s Strategic Air Forces over the Mediterranean, with Typhoons escorting Rafale fighters, according to the ministry. While the Rafale jets performed a simulated nuclear strike, the exercise didn’t involve any actual nuclear weapons, the ministry said.

In addition to Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale jets, the exercise included A330 MRTT tanker aircraft, French Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Fabien Mandon said in a post on the social network X. The French and British crews took off from Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France, and showed a “very high level of interoperability and a capability to coordinate,” he said.

Mandon’s post included a picture showing three taxiing Eurofighters, as well as a Eurofighter under a hard cover with the markings of the RAF 29 Squadron.

“This is a revolution for the Strategic Air Forces, which have always operated in complete autonomy since their creation in the 1960s,” said Etienne Marcuz, a senior analyst at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, in a post on X. He called the involvement of at least three British Eurofighter aircraft “quite significant.”

The exercise was an important step in the implementation of the Northwood Declaration, showing a determination to deter common threats together, the ministry said. France and the U.K. last year agreed to deepen nuclear cooperation and coordination, stating in the declaration that they agreed there was no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both nations.

The exercise Rummy took place on Oct. 20 and 21, according to the ministry. France’s Air and Space Force regularly holds simulated nuclear-strike exercises called Poker.

The U.K. and France maintain sovereign and independent nuclear forces, and decision-making regarding their use isn’t shared, the ministry said. The countries would only consider using nuclear weapons in “extreme circumstances of legitimate defense,” the French ministry said.

The Royal Navy currently has only five Type 23 frigates for anti-submarine warfare in service, compared with a stated requirement of eight, and analysis suggests the number of frigates equipped with a towed array sonar could remain as low as five for the next three years, the Defence Committee wrote in an inquiry report published on Thursday.

Anti-submarine warfare frigates are “critical” to helping locate Russian submarines, both in the High North as well as in British home waters, including to protect the U.K.’s ballistic missile submarines that provide the country’s nuclear deterrent when entering or leaving their base in Faslane, Scotland, according to the report.

“Although new frigates will eventually join the fleet in sufficient numbers, the current fleet readiness picture raises doubts about whether the U.K. could sustain the maritime tasks required in the High North by 2030,” the committee said.

Citing the critical role of anti-submarine operations in the High North, the committee recommended the government ensures no further Type 23 frigates equipped with towed sonar leave Navy service until they’re replaced on a one-on-one basis by the future Type 26 frigates.

The U.K. has ordered eight Type 26 frigates from BAE Systems for the anti-submarine warfare role, with the lead vessel scheduled to enter service in 2028, and Minister of State for Defence Luke Pollard said in June that the program remained on track. Norway said in August 2025 it would buy five Type 26s, with delivery to start in 2030.

Should two of the Type 26 frigates being built for the U.K. instead go to Norway to meet the delivery deadline, the Royal Navy would take until 2037 to meet its requirement for a fleet of eight frigates equipped with a towed array sonar.

“Export success must not come at the expense of the Royal Navy’s own Type 26 frigate delivery timelines,” the committee said. “The government must ensure that naval exports expand industrial capacity and allied capability, rather than competing with U.K. requirements for scarce ships, systems and skilled labor.”

The High North, which the committee defined as the greater Arctic and parts of the North Atlantic, “has become central” in U.K. defense and security concerns, with climate change increasing access to the region, according to the report.

As melting ice sheets and sea ice expose Russian bases that were previously mostly inaccessible, Russia is seeking both to defend those bases as well as project force into the Atlantic and U.K. territorial waters, according to the committee. That threatens NATO supply lines from the United States to Europe, as well as undersea and onshore infrastructure, including the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent.

Lack of a credible under-ice capability means the Navy is less able to contest Russian freedom of action in the High North, which risks forcing the U.K. into a more defensive posture, according to the report. The Defence Committee asked the government to brief panel members on progress towards re-establishing an under-ice capability for at least some of the country’s Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The Navy’s ASW frigates and nuclear-powered submarines offer the greatest deterrent against the threat posed by Russian submarines and underwater sabotage, though “unfortunately, they are either aging or too often unavailable due to maintenance issues,” the committee report said.

For the U.K. to lead an effective coalition would require the country to address “glaring gaps” in the availability of its maritime forces, and an agreed plan with European allies to deter and if necessary defeat any aggression in the High North from 2030, according to the report.

The committee asked the Ministry of Defence to provide a classified assessment of the capability gaps in case of a conflict in the High North in 2030 in which the U.K. and allies would operate without U.S. support.

“Royal Navy equipment readiness and platform numbers in particular are currently far worse than the government’s stated requirements,” the report said. “With 2030 identified as a key date by which to be ready to deter or defeat any Russian threat, dramatic progress is required before the end of the decade to improve the availability and capabilities of the U.K.’s Armed Forces for operations in the High North.”

The Royal Navy has a requirement for 13 frigates and six destroyers, but has struggled to meet those numbers, the committee said, with only the five Type 23 frigates and six Type 45 destroyers in service.

With the Northern Sea Route becoming more accessible, Russia may try to turn control there into a monopoly, and the government should prepare options for a U.K. state-owned vessel to transit the route to support freedom of navigation, the committee said. Sailing from Shanghai to Rotterdam takes about 14,900 kilometers via the northern route, compared with 19,500 km via the Suez Canal.

The report raised questions about the U.K.’s Hybrid Navy program to combine crewed and uncrewed vessels, saying the High North is “an exceptionally demanding environment” for autonomous systems, and the concept should not become a substitute for crewed capability before unmanned systems have been proven in harsh Arctic conditions.

The committee recommended the government explain within a year how it will test the Hybrid Navy’s main uncrewed systems in High North conditions before relying on them for operational tasks, looking at issues such as cold-weather performance, resistance to jamming and protection from capture.

The combined tonnage of combat ships built by China in the two years through to December 2025 amounted to 636,208 tons, compared to 270,509 tons for the United States, according to data compiled by Flottes de Combat and French maritime industry association Gican.

China accounted for more than a third of the global naval tonnage constructed in 2024-25, based on the Euronaval report. U.S. lawmakers and congressional researchers have warned that China’s greater shipbuilding capacity, combined with delays and bottlenecks in U.S. naval shipbuilding, could hurt America’s ability to keep up with Beijing’s expanding fleet.

“We are seeing a fairly substantial expansion of naval forces, and consequently of shipbuilding,” said Philippe Missoffe, the general director of Gican, in a press briefing here on Tuesday. “We’re seeing an increase in power capabilities, particularly nuclear-powered attack submarines for example.”

Global naval construction overall was booming in the period, with 1.47 million tons of combat vessels built in 2024-25, compared with 959,671 tons in the prior two years. The value of global naval construction amounted to $123.9 billion, climbing from $81.8 billion in 2022-23.

The value of Chinese combat-vessel construction was US$43.5 billion in the latest two-year period, compared with $26.8 billion for the U.S., the report said.

China has reversed roles from 2022-2023, when production of the country’s naval yards amounted to 202,520 tons, compared with 245,703 tons for the U.S., according to the previous edition of the shipbuilding report published in 2024.

The U.S. fleet of combat vessels of more than 200 tons amounted to 3.11 million tons as of Jan. 1, 2026, compared to 1.44 million tons for China’s fleet, the report showed, That compares with 3.22 million tons for the U.S. and 1.3 million tons for China two years earlier.

Russia was in third place in terms of naval construction in 2024-25, with 149,056 tons built, followed by India with 76,430 tons and Italy with 53,700 tons. Turkey, France, Japan, South Korean and Romania rounded out the top 10 of naval builders.

The four-day Euronaval show, the world’s biggest maritime-defense exhibition, is set to kick of in Paris on Nov. 3. The number of exhibitors will be more than 40% higher than in 2024, according to the organizers.

The country now conceives the future fighter, dubbed Avion de Combat du Futur or ACF, as a national project, with a target of flying conventional missions in 2040, Bellanger told the National Assembly’s defense committee in a hearing here on Wednesday.

“We’re now moving on to work that will prefigure and enable the birth of this ACF, this future combat aircraft as a national program,” Bellanger said. France remains open to possible cooperation with other countries, “but within different frameworks and which won’t be structural to the birth of this aircraft.”

France and Germany agreed to scrap the FCAS project in June, after years of wrangling about specifications and industrial control between Dassault Aviation and Airbus. That’s left both countries without a clear successor for their existing fleets of Rafale and Eurofighter jets, respectively, though Germany has started receiving the first F-35 jets ordered in 2022 to replace the Panavia Tornado.

Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier has said his company and France have all the know-how and skills to develop a next-generation fighter jet, together with engine partner Safran and defense-electronics firm Thales, and he would be able to do so “well below” a budget of €50 billion (US$56 billion).

All the years working on FCAS “haven’t been wasted,” with progress in areas including the aircraft, drones, stealth, connectivity and combat cloud, Bellanger said. Work had been split up in several so-called pillars that also included a new engine, with Dassault and Airbus working on the next-gen fighter pillar at the heart of the system.

“The halt of the FCAS program doesn’t mean we’re throwing everything away,” Bellanger said. “Our teams, the industrial teams have been working on the NGF, stealth, the cloud, and so on. All of that will allow us to continue at this stage on a national basis, while also focusing on this very important aspect of interoperability.”

France must “absolutely continue” working with Germany and other countries on the combat cloud, as interoperability between European crewed platforms will be vital, “to avoid thinking of a war fought side by side, but rather one fought together,” Bellanger said.

Bellanger said that even if FCAS wasn’t a success from an industrial standpoint, he has a very good working relationship with his German counterpart, with both commanders on the same page regarding their vision for future air combat, and both advocating for common operational requirements for the cloud component.

The Rafale successor will need to carry the ASN4G hypersonic nuclear cruise missile in 2050, and working back from that date means the aircraft will need to be flying in 2040 for conventional missions, Bellanger said. Moving ahead with a national program will allow France to meet the deadlines essential for nuclear deterrence by 2040, he said.

France will need to have a Rafale F5 standard in 2035 that incorporates the first components of the future combat aircraft, related to the engine, the sensors and the Stratus RS missile to neutralize enemy air defenses, according to Bellanger.

Bellanger said the British-Italian-Japanese GCAP project to develop a sixth-generation aircraft is working towards “a different kind of aircraft, it’s almost a strategic bomber.” He said “it’s not all roses” within the GCAP consortium, with cooperation inevitably requiring compromises.

The Air Force chief said France will receive its first long-range one-way munitions in the summer of 2027 with MBDA’s Deluge drone, which will form the basis for the country’s first squadron of bombing and reconnaissance drones. The force is also experimenting with interceptor drones with an eye on creating a dedicated drone-interceptor squadron.

The Air and Space Force further plans to create a very-high altitude squadron to deploy stratospheric balloons, which can be used for communication relays or as a platform for intelligence sensors, as well as other systems with long-endurance capabilities such as tethered balloons.

The air force envisages future strikes into enemy territory that will involve a first wave of a large number of disposable drones to weaken enemy air defenses, which will be the role of the new squadron, according to Bellanger. The disposable drones will be capable of kinetic operations, but also non-kinetic operations including jamming, saturation, or deception, the air force chief said.

A second wave of reusable but expendable drones would then create a breach to allow for deep strikes using crewed and uncrewed systems, he said.

“To strike the enemy on their own turf, we now have to think of overwhelming air defenses with low-cost bombing drones and electronic warfare capabilities such as offensive jamming.”

The French Navy plans to replace the Charles de Gaulle, the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in operation outside the United States Navy, with a future carrier to be named France Libre in 2038. As part of an upcoming major refit, France will look into whether the Charles de Gaulle can continue to operate longer, based on the state of onboard systems and the nuclear propulsion, Cluzel said.

With a single carrier, France is without one any time the Charles de Gaulle is in dock for periodic maintenance, and the issue of whether the country needs a second carrier tends to pop up whenever lawmakers question Navy brass.

One obstacle is cost, with the estimated €10 billion budget (US$11.2 billion) for the future France Libre carrier enough to fund at least ten new FDI-class frigates.

“Do we need two carriers? Two carriers allow you to maintain a standing alert from Toulon,” Cluzel told the National Assembly’s defense committee, referring to the Charles de Gaulle’s home port in southern France. “Two carriers is a political ambition, and it’s not for me to decide on its suitability.”

The admiral noted that keeping a permanent presence at sea would require having three carriers.

He said the future France Libre and the Charles de Gaulle will have two years of overlap in 2036-2038, with two aircraft-carrier crews on active duty, which the Navy chief said is necessary for a seamless transition of skills. That would be the first time the country has two carriers in service since the late 1990s, when the Navy operated the conventionally powered Foch and Clemenceau.

“The transition on a capability like this has to happen without any break, at the risk of losing skills and taking a very, very long time to rebuild them,” Cluzel said. “So from 2036 to 2038 there is a period when the Navy will again have two carriers able to be at sea simultaneously.

”France has said the France Libre will measure 310 meters and displace about 80,000 tonnes, compared to 261.5 meters and 42,000 tons for the Charles de Gaulle. The current carrier can carry an air wing of 40 aircraft, mainly the naval version of the Rafale fighter as well as two E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and a number of helicopters.

Studies on extending the Charles de Gaulle’s service life will look at the wear on the reactor cores at the heart of the carrier’s nuclear propulsion system, and the ability to extend operations by keeping fuel on board the carrier for longer, according to Cluzel. The results are due in early 2029 and will be the deciding factor, he said.

“But these studies will also cover all of the carrier’s arteries, because the carrier is as old as its arteries, and its availability must not ultimately hinge on or be compromised by the availability of even a single auxiliary system,” Cluzel said. “So they’re truly comprehensive studies.”

France is sticking to a plan to fit the France Libre with U.S.-made electromagnetic catapults, despite U.S. President Donald Trump ordering the US Navy to revert to steam-powered catapults. Cluzel said he expects to discuss the topic in a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Adm. Daryl Caudle in Washington next week.

Electromagnetic catapults have shown “formidable reliability,” with nearly 40,000 catapult launches since the U.S. took them into service, and an availability rate of around 98%, the French admiral said. “So this is remarkable for a catapult that also brings tremendous operational added value in terms of flexibility of use, in the ability to launch heavy aircraft as well as drones.”

The French Navy chief said he doesn’t see the contract at risk, also because the U.S. already operates three nuclear-powered carriers with electromagnetic catapults and arresting gear, meaning a production line exists, and a viable maintenance, repair and overhaul program.

France is committed to limiting its dependencies, and similar to what it did for the steam-powered catapults on the Charles de Gaulle, the country will buy a “substantial” inventory of spare parts for its electromagnetic catapults right at the start of the program, to ensure it can perform repairs independently, according to Cluzel.

Cluzel said he doesn’t see a need for France to operate short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft, which he said bring compromises in terms of either reduced range or armament. The France Libre is intended to be a “superiority carrier,” the admiral said. “And that is exactly what a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with catapults and arresting cables provides.”With air and sea superiority now contested, “perhaps everywhere,” Cluzel said superiority carriers are now needed, with the first step of any operation to regain local air-sea superiority. “In the middle of an ocean, the only way to have air superiority is to have this capability.”

The Navy chief also discussed the new Frégate de Défense et d’Intervention, which he said “has been delivering on all its promises.” He said the new frigate built by Naval Group has been criticized by industrial competitors, but has proven to be “extremely seaworthy and stable, contrary to what you may have read.

”Cluzel called the detection capability of the FDI’s new flat-panel radar “remarkable,” with a performance “at least of the same level” as the radar on France’s air-defense frigates, despite being mounted lower above the waterline. The native integration of digital processing on the frigate brings a “significant gain” in sonar detection capability, the admiral said.

“We are continuing our discussions regarding the combat aviation component, particularly regarding the Rafale,” Vautrin told French lawmakers in response to questions about aid to Ukraine during a 2027 defense-budget hearing here. “From November, we will begin the first training of Ukrainian pilots on Rafale.”

Ukrainian pilots will soon begin training on Rafale aircraft in France, a major step forward for Ukraine’s combat aviation, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Monday, citing a conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine in July agreed on a roadmap with France that included a plan to buy 16 Rafale fighter jets together with the accompanying weapon systems. The country has previously received F-16 jets from several European countries, Mirage 2000 fighters from France, and in May agreed to buy 20 new Gripen jets, with Sweden donating 16 units of an older model.

The first Rafale jets are expected to fly in Ukrainian skies in 2028 or 2029, Macron said in July.

Both countries are continuing to work on localizing production of French missiles and aerial bombs in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on Monday. Vautrin said in her hearing that a licensing process is currently underway for missiles.

“We are fully aware that by supporting Ukraine, we are defending Europe,” Vautrin said.

As part of the July agreement, Ukraine would also acquire an initial batch of SAMP/T NG air-defense batteries with missiles, Macron said at the time. The countries further approved licensing agreements for production in Ukraine of the AASM glide-bomb kit, the Aster 30 air-defense interceptor that arms the SAMP/T, as well as the SCALP/Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile.

Ukraine has already operated an older version of the French-Italian SAMP/T air-defense system, which relies on the Aster family of interceptors manufactured by MBDA. The country also uses the AASM Hammer precision glide-bomb developed by Safran.

Ukraine in November last year signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 of Rafale jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation, after a similar letter of intent a month earlier between Ukraine and Sweden for the export of up to 150 Gripen jets, produced by Saab.

The Rafale integrates MBDA’s Meteor, considered by analysts to be one of the best long-range air-to-air missiles in service with Western militaries. The aircraft also features a high-end electronic warfare suite and a radar from Thales, both of which were upgraded as part of the Rafale’s F4.1 standard, qualified in March 2023.

The nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine Le Vigilant fired an M51.3 missile in an acceptance test following the boat’s overhaul, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a statement. The missile, which didn’t carry a nuclear warhead, was launched off Finistère in western France and splashed down in the North Atlantic several hundred kilometers from any coastline, the ministry said.

France’s work to upgrade the M51 missile, manufactured by ArianeGroup, is part of a broader modernization of the country’s nuclear deterrence apparatus that also includes the construction of new ballistic-missile submarines and a future upgrade of the Rafale fighter jet that would carry a hypersonic nuclear cruise missile.

“This is a very important moment for our strategic credibility,” Macron told troops onboard a French Navy vessel from which he observed the launch. “Everything that has happened recently and what is happening today will be closely scrutinized by both our allies and our competitors alike, and it already is. Along the course we have set, this is a step forward.”

The modernization of France’s nuclear arsenal comes as the country works with several European allies on what Macron has called “forward deterrence,” a proposal that could involve extending the reach of French nuclear deterrence to those allies, although the details of what that would look like remain vague for now.

Every major overhaul of a French nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine is followed by an acceptance test firing of the M51, the ministry told Defense News in an emailed response to questions.

ArianeGroup and France’s Directorate General for Armament completed a first flight test of the modernized M51 from a launch site in Biscarrosse in southwest France in 2023, and the new missile entered operational service in October last year.

The latest M51.3 variant is estimated to have a range of more than 9,500 kilometers, from more than 9,000 kilometers for the previous version, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The missile carries four to six multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, according to the Bulletin.

While the official range of the missile is undisclosed, ArianeGroup says the M51 reaches an altitude of more than 2,000 kilometers before reentering the atmosphere at a speed of Mach 20.

The missile is equipped with the new TNO-2 oceanic nuclear warhead, and offers better performance in terms of range, accuracy and penetration capability, according to the ministry. The solid-propellant three-stage missile weighs more than 50 metric tons, and each of France’s four ballistic missile submarines can carry 16 of them.

“The M51.3 ensures the long-term credibility of the ocean-based component in the face of evolving adversary missile defenses,” the ministry said. “It reflects the commitment of the President of the Republic to maintaining operational credibility of the nuclear forces over the long term, at the level required by the international environment.”

The first version of the M51 was fired from the Biscarrosse launch site in 2006, with the first submarine launch from the SSBN Le Terrible in January 2010. Today’s launch was the seventh time a variant of the M51 was fired from a French submarine, and the 13th launch of the missile overall, all of them “of course, conducted without a nuclear warhead,” according to the ministry.

Defense startup funding in Europe already reached $7.4 billion as of Sept. 20, led by so-called “mega rounds” raised by Germany’s Helsing and Quantum systems, Dealroom and Resilience Media said in their annual State of Defence Tech report published Monday. That compares to $1.5 billion of funding for European startups in the defense space as of September a year earlier, based on the 2025 report.

Europe is grabbing a growing share of the defense-tech investment pie, with the European Union accounting for 21% of defense startup funding raised by September, from 15% last year. The share of the United States fell to 75%, the lowest ever, according to the Dealroom data.

“This is Europe catching up rather than the U.S. slowing,” Dealroom said. “EU 27 funding more than doubled in a year.”

Mega rounds made up more than 85% of the venture capital invested in European defense startups this year, including Helsing’s $1.8 billion Series E round in July according to Dealroom. German startups have set every fundraising record in European defense-tech venture capital funding since 2023, the report said.

Across NATO countries, defense startups raised $27.1 billion in venture capital so far in 2026, already more than $14.5 billion raised in all of 2025, and the amount is forecast to total $38.5 billion by the end of December.

Europe is channeling the largest share of venture capital into drones and autonomous systems, which accounted for 74% of the funding in the EU and 77% in the United Kingdom, compared to 57% in the United States. European startups in that segment that raised money included Helsing, Quantum Systems and Stark in Germany, Harmattan AI in France and Cambridge Aerospace in the U.K.

In Europe, the segment of unmanned aerial vehicles accounted for $4.7 billion raised as of September, according to the Dealroom data, followed by Earth observation and satellite imagery with $1.8 billion, anti-drone solutions and launch vehicles, each with $1.2 billion, and maritime robotics, with $796 million raised.

European startups in ground robotics, or unmanned ground vehicles, are trailing for now, with $77.6 million of venture capital funding so far this year, according to the Dealroom data.

Germany is the top European country for defense venture capital funding this year, with $3.5 billion raised, ahead of Finland with $1.2 billion, the U.K. with $932 million and France with $376 million. Munich is the European defense tech capital, attracting $3 billion in VC funding as of Sept. 20, ahead of Helsinki, London, Berlin, the English city of Cambridge, and Paris.

“Munich is the powerhouse of the European defense tech ecosystem,” Dealroom said. “Helsing and Quantum Systems drive most of it, together worth $25.7 billion. Behind them a younger cohort is forming across ground robotics, counter-drone and hypersonics.”

Funding for defense startups is diversifying as the sector grows, and total private investment in NATO defense startups, which also includes private equity, debt and grants, is forecast to reach $42.7 billion from $16.9 billion a year earlier, according to Dealroom.

Defense is the fastest-growing sector in Europe in terms of startup funding, ahead of space and robotics, according to Dealroom. Defense accounted for 15% of overall venture capital funding in the EU, from 6.2% reported a year earlier, while across NATO, defense attracted 4.9% of venture-capital funding as of September.