In May 2022, the Defense Innovation Agency [AID] launched a call for projects with a view to developing two types of remote-controlled munitions [encore appelées « rôdeuses »]whose effectiveness, demonstrated during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in October 2020, had just been confirmed in the fighting in Ukraine.
The first project, called “LARINAE”, aims to develop a grazing munition capable of reaching a potential target within a fifty-kilometer radius. The second, called “COLIBRI”, consists in developing a device of the same type, but for targets only five kilometers away.
“We have indicated that we want low-cost, obviously effective solutions that offer autonomy depending on the area and are delivered very quickly; we also want the military to be able to train very quickly”, Emmanuel Chiva, the general delegate for armaments, recently indicated the origin of these two project calls, since he was responsible for AID at the time of their launch. .
The stakes for LARINAE and COLIBRI are high. At least it could be so… During a parliamentary hearing in January, Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu reiterated that “sneaking munitions” would be a “key capability” and one of the goals of the next military is programming law, “several thousand” for needs to acquire from the army. And to explain: “to make than shares [de munitions] Undifferentiated, we will also be interested in the type of weapon systems to see what we need depending on the type of engagement and reactivity we need to have.”
Anyway, on March 21st, AID announced that it had just selected two consortia for the COLIBRI project [elle n’a en revanche rien dit au sujet de LARINAE].
“The project led by MBDA and Novadem and the project developed by Nexter and a French drone company [Delair?] were selected from 19 industry proposals,” AID said in a press release.
The Directorate-General for Armaments will allow the selection of two projects to be described as “complementary”. [DGA] to explore “multiple technological and operational axes” to respond quickly and effectively to the needs expressed by the Armed Forces.
Therefore, the solution proposed by MBDA and Novadem is based on a rotary wing drone that is easier to use and manoeuvre. It “will make it possible to explore use cases in urban or less open environments,” emphasizes AID. As for the one submitted by Nexter and its partner, it consists of adapting a “fixed-wing surveillance drone” better suited to “open and potentially larger” environments.
“Both projects involve a pyrotechnic charge. The first demonstrations of this remote-controlled ammunition are planned for the end of 2023,” specifies the AID. They will make it possible “to feed the knowledge of the capacities of this type of solution from a technical and operational point of view, as well as the implementation security aspects,” she adds.
This call for projects initiates a new defense program oriented approach in that it focuses on the effects to be achieved and not on the technical specifications, taking into account various factors [coût, délais, etc].