Franceinfo: France announces the aquisition of armed drones by 2019

Published on Franceinfo.fr, September 2017.

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Following what the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom have done in the past, France will acquire armed drones.

Florence Parly, made the announcement on Tuesday 5 September. "I decided to initiate the process of armament of our drones of intelligence and surveillance," said the Minister of Armies before an audience of military and parliamentarians at the Université d'été de la Défense in Toulon (Var) after visiting local defence industrialists, inclunding ECA Group.

The first step will be to arm the Reaper drones bought in the United States and currently used for surveillance operations of jihadists in the Sahel.

Franceinfo asked Frédéric Coste, a research fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), to know what this decision really changes.

Franceinfo: Can this announcement be considered important?

Frédéric Coste: Yes, because it clarifies the position of France on the subject of the armament of drones. Until then, the authorities seemed in an in-between. On the one hand, they were cautious of taking the plunge. And on the other, convinced that it was indispensable. Evidence shows that curricula were regularly put in place. It was not easy to follow. This time it is decided: the fire has turned green.

We also felt that there was an ethical blockage ...

You are right: some people feared the smudges, even the humiliations of the population. In my opinion, this is a false debate. I am not saying that there have never been any problems, but if the law of armed conflict is respected, there is no problem. Whether it's a drone or a fighter plane, it's always the man who is in charge, and so decides.

On a military level, what's going to change ?

Many things. The real advantage is operational efficiency. It has nothing to do with a fighter plane. It requires the presence of a pilot on board, it is stress, fatigue ... So the duration of the flight is necessarily limited. After five hours, the aircraft is obliged to return to the ground, and it is necessary to organize a backup. With an armed drone, we no longer have this kind of problem: some can fly for thirty hours without refueling, only the teams on the ground need to take turns. The other advantage of a drone is the speed of intervention. It only takes a few seconds to reach a target. A fighter jet is about ten minutes.

Human risks are limited...

Completely. The soldiers are much better preserved with the drones, they are not in direct contact with the enemy. The teams that operate the drones work remotely, and are sometimes several thousand kilometers away from the aircraft. Last but not least, drones are theoretically cheaper to fly than fighter planes.

With this announcement, would you say that France is back in the race?

I would rather say that it is a symbolic step, but not a revolution. There are only six Reaper drones, most of which are used today for surveillance of jihadists in the Sahel. Let us be reasonable: six is ​​little. It's not going to upset the military field. Let's say we catch up a little bit with the delay we had on other armies, such as the United States, Israel and Great Britain. These are the three most advanced countries in the field of armed drones.