Far from any parade or show of force, the French defence ministry has locked in a deal that could redraw how navies watch the seas, fight, and even save lives in storms — with a kind of drone no other country has yet committed to deploy at scale.
France takes the plunge with Airbus’s naval drone
On 14 January 2026 in Marignane, the French defence procurement agency (DGA) awarded Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group a production contract for six VSR700 drone systems for the French Navy.
These are not experimental prototypes. They are the first production-standard naval VSR700s, scheduled to start entering service from 2028.
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France will be the first country to field the VSR700 as an operational shipborne drone, moving from hesitant follower to early adopter in this niche field.
Six systems might sound modest, but in defence programmes the jump from demonstrator to series production is the real milestone. It means the French Navy is ready to trust the system at sea, on real warships, with real missions.
For Airbus Helicopters, this contract forces a shift from one‑off engineering to repeatable industrial manufacturing of unmanned systems, with all the certification, safety and cyber-security demands that follow.
What exactly is the VSR700?
A naval eye in the sky for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
The configuration ordered by France is tailored for ISR — intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. In plain terms, the drone is built to see further, see clearer and share that picture instantly with the ship.
Each VSR700 system for the French Navy will carry:
- A maritime surveillance radar to detect and track targets far beyond the ship’s horizon
- An electro‑optical turret for day and night visual identification
- An AIS receiver to intercept and analyse signals from civilian vessels
Naval Group will integrate the drone directly into the ship’s combat architecture through its Steeris Mission System. The VSR700 will behave not as a standalone gadget but as another sensor node, alongside radars, sonars and electronic warfare suites.
On French frigates, the VSR700 is designed to function as a true combat system asset, not just a flying camera bolted on the back deck.
The aircraft itself is a small helicopter‑type drone with vertical take‑off and landing, able to operate from the limited space of a warship’s flight deck. Its main role: extend what the ship can see and understand without risking a human pilot.
Not a replacement for helicopters, but a force multiplier
French officials insist the VSR700 will not replace manned naval helicopters. It is meant to complement them.
Shipborne helicopters such as the NH90 or Panther excel at complex tasks: anti‑submarine warfare, rescue, boarding operations, and armed interventions. They carry crews, weapons and dipping sonars, and can improvise in fast‑changing situations.
The VSR700, by contrast, will specialise in endurance and persistence. It can stay aloft for long periods, patrol wider areas and maintain continuous watch without crew fatigue.
Airbus has already demonstrated manned‑unmanned teaming — branded “HTeaming” — where a VSR700 and a conventional helicopter cooperate. In that model, the human crew keeps decision‑making authority, while the drone feeds them additional angles, tracks and imagery.
Civil helicopter roots turned into a naval combat tool
From Cabri G2 to VSR700
Technically, the VSR700 is based on the Cabri G2, a light civil helicopter designed by French company Hélicoptères Guimbal. By starting from a certified platform, Airbus reduced technical risks and shortened development timelines.
From that civilian base, engineers stripped out the cockpit, reinforced structures, added navalisation features and embedded military‑grade avionics, data links and mission systems. All of this took place under the SDAM programme, a joint effort by the DGA and the French Navy with Naval Group as a key partner.
Before green‑lighting production, the programme pushed prototypes to operational limits: harsh sea states, cluttered electromagnetic environments, and demanding deck landings. The emphasis was on showing the drone could live the same rough life as a frontline warship.
Industrial challenge: building drones like aircraft, updating them like software
Moving from prototypes to six operational systems forces Airbus to rethink its industrial approach. Drones live at the crossroads of aerospace and software, and customers expect frequent capability upgrades.
The DGA wants guaranteed repeatability and certification, with strict safety rules and cyber‑resilience. At the same time, the VSR700 must evolve quickly as new sensors, data links and AI‑powered tools appear.
The French contract is less about the raw number of airframes and more about proving a scalable way to produce and upgrade naval drones over the long term.
This tension between military rigor and tech‑style agility is one of the main reasons many drone concepts never move beyond demonstrators. France is betting that Airbus and Naval Group can crack that code.
A drone with missions beyond warfare
Multi‑role potential: from logistics to firefighting
While the first French VSR700s will fly as ISR assets, the design remains multi‑mission. With different payloads and software, the same airframe could support a wide range of tasks:
- Ship‑to‑ship and ship‑to‑shore logistics, carrying supplies where sending a helicopter or boat is too risky or costly
- Armed reconnaissance, with light weapons or guided munitions if future policy and export rules allow
- Civil uses such as wildfire monitoring, search‑and‑rescue over the sea, or post‑disaster assessment
That versatility matters for export prospects. It allows navies, coastguards and even civil protection agencies to justify the investment collectively, sharing training and support structures.
A small club of rivals in a demanding niche
Who else builds similar naval drones?
Shipborne rotary‑wing drones are a specialist category. They must withstand saltwater corrosion, turbulent deck landings and the cramped confines of surface combatants. Only a few players offer mature systems.
| System | Origin | Key characteristics |
| Camcopter S‑100 | Austria (Schiebel) | Widely exported, robust, but limited payload and deeper combat integration |
| MQ‑8 Fire Scout | United States (Northrop Grumman) | High performance, heavier and costly, shrinking role in US Navy |
| Rotary UAV Panther | Israel (IAI) | ISR‑focused, narrow export footprint |
| Chinese VTOL naval UAVs | China | Several designs, limited public data, few NATO‑relevant references |
In this landscape, the VSR700 aims at a middle ground: more ambitious and better integrated than lightweight drones like the S‑100, but far less heavy and expensive than Fire Scout‑class machines.
French engineers have designed the system from day one to plug neatly into modern Western combat systems, a point many rivals struggle with. Plenty of drones can fly; fewer can share data securely and reliably with a frigate’s sensors and weapons in real time.
France’s bet: from laggard to reference customer
From reputation for delay to early mover advantage
France has often been criticised for dragging its feet on drones, especially compared with the US, Israel or Turkey. In naval drones, though, Paris has a chance to reposition itself as an early mover.
For now, France remains the only country with a firm VSR700 order under the SDAM programme. Yet several foreign navies are watching closely. The UK’s Royal Navy has already conducted embarked trials with the system from a British ship, testing how a helicopter‑style drone could boost maritime surveillance.
Italian and Spanish navies have observed the programme and studied the capability, without committing. In Asia, marines seeking an ISR asset for smaller ships, where a full‑size helicopter is unrealistic, have shown interest during demonstrations.
By stepping up as launch customer, France turns its own fleet into a reference showroom for future buyers.
If the VSR700 performs well at sea from 2028, the French order could unlock export deals that were unlikely based on trials alone.
What this means in practice for missions at sea
A typical scenario on a future French frigate
Imagine a French frigate patrolling a chokepoint with mixed traffic: cargo ships, fishing boats, and the occasional suspicious vessel running dark. Today, the ship must rely on its own radar, a helicopter flight if available, and radio contacts.
With a VSR700 on board, the captain can launch a drone to orbit 50 or 100 nautical miles ahead. Its radar spots a vessel that has switched off its AIS transponder. The electro‑optical sensor zooms in, sending back infrared images to the combat information centre.
Operators compare the hull shape, cargo configuration and behaviour with known patterns. If the ship looks clean, the VSR700 can shift to the next contact. If not, a manned helicopter or boarding team can be tasked, already briefed with detailed imagery instead of guesswork.
In a crisis or conflict, the same approach helps detect small fast boats, missile‑armed craft or low‑flying aircraft earlier, giving the frigate extra minutes to react — sometimes the difference between a successful intercept and a damaged warship.
Risks, limits and future questions
Naval drones bring new vulnerabilities alongside new capabilities. Communication links can be jammed or spoofed. Data they collect must be protected from interception. Deck operations add complexity for crews already managing helicopters, missiles and weapons.
There are also legal and ethical questions when drones start to carry weapons rather than just sensors. Rules of engagement, accountability and escalation risks will all need careful handling, especially in crowded civilian sea lanes.
On the positive side, shipborne drones reduce the need to send human crews into dangerous weather or contested zones. They can loiter for hours where a helicopter crew might be confined by fatigue limits. They also open doors to new cooperative tactics, with multiple ships sharing drone data to build a common maritime picture.
For France, the VSR700 decision is as much about learning to live with these trade‑offs as it is about buying six aircraft. If the gamble pays off, future contracts could add more drones, new payloads and perhaps armed variants, locking in France’s shift from late adopter to recognised pioneer in naval unmanned aviation.
