Allies in Innovation: DCNS and Airbus Helicopters Team Up for the French Navy’s Next-Gen VTOL Drone

A decade of expertise in the maritime integration of aerial drones

For DCNS, drones serve as the vigilant eyes of the combat system; their operations are managed by each vessel’s combat management framework, ensuring enhanced efficiency in real-time to support maritime missions. Providing a genuine tactical edge, the VTOL drone is an integral element of warships and amplifies the operational capacity of naval forces.

DCNS CEO Hervé Guillou stated: “We will persist in innovating within these domains and empower drones to undertake increasingly intricate missions across extended distances and durations in a collaborative setting with augmented digitalization of assets. Such digital transformation depends on the implementation of cybersecurity solutions that enhance the safeguarding of data and communications between drones and vessels.”

 DCNS’s role in this collaboration will encompass designing and supplying the complete warship-integrated VTOL drone system. DCNS will engender and refine the solutions for the marine-based operation and integration of the drone, covering the specification and validation of the payloads and mission data links. DCNS will also construct the drone’s mission system, enabling real-time management of its activities and allowing its payloads to be controlled via the combat management framework.

Over the past decade, DCNS has expertly managed the French arms procurement agency (DGA) and the French Navy’s principal aerial drone research and trial initiatives, functioning independently and in partnership. In this journey, the Group has gained unique know-how in Europe and holds solutions for merging aerial drone systems in warships or facilitating their operation from vessels. These solutions have been piloted at sea.

The VSR 700: a versatile and robust solution

A multi-purpose and economical platform, the VSR700 has been engineered by Airbus Helicopters to provide military clients with a solution that leverages a proven civil aircraft while achieving the optimum equilibrium between performance, operational adaptability, reliability, and operational costs. Employing autonomous flight technologies tested by Airbus Helicopters through various demonstration initiatives, the VSR700 is based on a light civil helicopter, the Cabri G2 (developed by the company Hélicoptères Guimbal), which has established its reliability and minimal operating expenditures in operation.

Under the partnership agreement, Airbus Helicopters will be accountable for the design and development of the VSR700 drone, along with the diverse technologies necessary for drones to conduct aerial missions, such as data liaison, payload integration, and a “see and avoid” feature facilitating the drone’s entry into controlled airspace.

“Rotary-wing drones are set to be vital in future air/sea operational theatres, acting as a mobile eye and extending surface vessels’ range beyond the horizon,” declared Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury. “This collaboration will merge Airbus Helicopters’ proficiency in vertical flight and autonomous technologies with DCNS’s expertise in naval combat systems, allowing us to address the emerging demands of our clients.”