The Army is stamping impatiently to put it into service.
The Patroller tactical drone was certified this week (Wednesday precisely) by the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA).
A first system of this reconnaissance and surveillance machine should soon enter service, four years later than initially planned.
But an accident, during a flight test campaign in December 2019, had shifted the delivery schedule.
Safran, prime contractor for the Patroller, and its partners had to rework the avionics software that controls the flight control systems.
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The Army ordered 14 copies for some 350 million euros, with its ground stations and maintenance, in 2016. It was preferred to the Watchkeeper drone, developed by Thales.
Assembled in Montluçon by Safran, its prime contractor, the Patroller will gradually replace the aging Spearwear drones of the French army.
Securing the Paris Olympics
Equipped with the Euroflir 410 optronic ball and sensors, in particular a listening system and a radar, it will offer infantrymen "
an image of exceptional quality
“, underlined Olivier Andriès, general manager of Safran, project manager of the Patroller.
And this in the visible and infrared domains.
It can also detect moving targets and point them with its laser.
Enduring (20 hours of autonomy), it will fly at an altitude of more than 7,000 meters at a maximum speed of 314 km/hour, within a range of 180 km.
It will be used by armies in theaters of operations but also in civilian environments, as part of securing major events such as the Paris Olympics in 2024. The drone is also certified by the European Security Agency. air safety (Easa) to fly in civil airspace.
“
The Patroller meets the needs of armies.
It is a modular platform that could accommodate other payloads.
We are also ready to develop an armed version in record time
”, assures Olivier Andriès.
The drone could indeed carry missiles or rockets, if the Ministry of the Armed Forces expresses the need.
The new Military Programming Law (LPM) 2014-2030 should provide an answer to the need for an armed version but also to the volumes.
“
If the Patroller becomes a high-volume product, the cost price will drop
,” sums up the managing director.
Avoid the "five-legged sheep"
With an armed version of the Patroller, Safran proposed to the DGA to become a “
pilot operator
” of the “
war economy
”, this new industrial policy, which aims to develop and produce military equipment more and more quickly.
“
We are ready for it
”, assures Olivier Andriès.
If the volumes are there, then “
we could open a second drone cell assembly line
,” he adds.
The cell is indeed based on the motor glider, ASP S-15, built by the German group Ecarys/Stemme.
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Ready to develop and produce in an "
agile
" mode, inspired by its experience in the rapid ramp-up of its Leap commercial aircraft engines, Safran is however pleading for a change in software within the military ecosystem.
"
Industry must be more agile, more flexible and faster, but it also needs specifications as needed
", insists Olivier Andriès.
This, in order to avoid soaring costs and extended delays.
Sometimes, “
20% of the specifications generate 80% of the development costs
”.
Clearly, the DGA and the armies should not demand a "
five-legged sheep
very long to develop and test.
But on the contrary, move towards greater simplicity without denying the desired efficiency.
It is also necessary to put an end to the "
over-specifications
" of precaution, very little used, like "
this anti-collision system with a bicycle for military equipment, which will never see a bicycle in their life
", explains another French industrialist.
To go faster, it is also necessary to initiate a reflection on the stocks whose financing must be, according to Olivier Andriès, “
shared between the industrialists and the Ministry of the Armed Forces
”.
