Such operational efficiency should become "our new norm."
The young French defense technology company Harmattan AI has manufactured and delivered a thousand reconnaissance drones to the army for the military exercises "Orion 26" in just six months. Such speed should become "our new norm," noted Minister of Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin.
The General Directorate of Armament (DGA) has been ordering drones for the French army for 10 years. Previously, it was about hundreds of devices annually. No French manufacturer produced more than 200–300 drones per year.
Today, against the backdrop of war in Europe, the defense industry is tasked with making the production of small drones (weighing less than 150 kg) mass-scale. To this end, in June 2024, the Ministry of Armed Forces initiated the "Pact for Air Defense Drones." To date, more than 170 major companies, startups, and research centers have joined it.
One of their tasks is to supply a thousand inexpensive training drones for large-scale military exercises "Orion 26," which have been taking place in France since February of this year. These exercises presented an excellent opportunity to test drones. One of the key issues was the price, said military engineer and coordinator of the "Pact for Defense Drones" Arnaud Mori at a press conference. If one drone costs, say, 10,000–20,000 euros, a thousand drones would amount to 10–20 million. Moreover, during military exercises, drones are usually destroyed.
"Our new norm"
The DGA set an ambitious goal: to produce a thousand drones costing less than a thousand euros each within less than a year, in time for the "Orion" exercises. In February 2025, the DGA announced a European tender, setting another condition: electronic maps for tracking drones must be made in Europe.
Companies sent about 30 proposals to the DGA. The tender was won by the French startup Harmattan AI, founded in 2024: its SONORA training drone project was deemed the most successful from both technical and financial perspectives. It allows soldiers to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance.
The manufacturer's website states that the drone weighs less than 1.8 kg, has a range of two kilometers, and can operate autonomously for over 40 minutes. It is ready for use in less than a minute. Importantly, the drone is fully modular: its parts can be easily replaced, simplifying maintenance and downtime.
The SONORA drone is equipped with built-in artificial intelligence that operates without a cloud connection. This allows it to function even without GPS.
Harmattan AI develops and assembles its drones in France in partnership with the French company Lynred, which supplies infrared cameras. The army ordered a thousand training devices from Harmattan AI at the end of June 2025. The order was completed by the end of December. "Never have so many drones been produced in France in such a short time," noted Arnaud Mori. In January of this year, a thousand SONORA drones were handed over to the ground forces.
Minister of Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin recently stated that such operational efficiency should become "our new norm." Learning lessons from the war in Ukraine, it is necessary to "shorten the cycle between identifying operational needs and delivering these means," the minister urged.
"War is transforming, requiring constant adaptation and acceleration. (...) This is a technical revolution, an organizational revolution, and, above all, a revolution in mentality," added Catherine Vautrin.
Five other tasks have already been set for the companies that joined the "Pact for Air Defense Drones." The DGA plans to continue stimulating French (or European) production of drone components. One of the problems is that electric motors for drones are not yet produced in Europe.
Another issue: while drone production is becoming mass-scale, the number of operators is not significantly changing. The use of artificial intelligence for automating flights and operating drones is currently being discussed, noted Arnaud Mori.
