The company produced the prototype in under six months with Thales as its partner, allowing it to meet the agency’s goal of strengthening drone capabilities for French forces and export markets. The demonstration involved an automated sequence that included an autonomous landing phase.
Daher acted as the project architect and integrated Thales’ ScaleFlyt avionics suite into an existing platform, activating a fully autonomous phase from the ground. This activation was carried out by Alexandre Lahousse, Senior General Engineer of Armament – Exceptional Class and the agency’s Deputy Director General, who attended with a delegation.
Thales provided the remote piloting system and the ground to air command and control link based on a technology neutral principle intended to work across different systems. The companies said the work showed how their complementary expertise supported the EyePulse concept and enabled a controlled and self reliant demonstration.
Daher said the flight drew on certified civilian technologies and on capabilities from its Fly’in technology centre in Tarbes, which contributed rapid prototyping, engineering and testing skills. The company highlighted that its civil aviation approvals and experience helped accelerate the integration of Thales systems into the drone demonstrator.
The modular EyePulse design is intended to adapt to changing operational doctrines and varying military needs. Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher Group’s Daher Aircraft division, said: “As a partner of the armed forces for more than 30 years, Daher is leveraging its innovation capabilities and dual-use industrial expertise to fully contribute to the transformation of France’s defense capabilities. We are mobilizing our skills and resources to prepare for the series production of drones. This EyePulse flight demonstration confirms the relevance of our approach and our ability to scale up production.”
Alexandre Lahousse said: “The speed at which Daher implemented this demonstration illustrates the company’s agility. Its ability to use certified and proven technological building blocks for new applications greatly facilitates their integration in the defense sector. Additionally, Daher’s sovereign capabilities –through its industrialization and production capacity within France – are a major asset. Finally, its ability to collaborate effectively with other partners to integrate technologies that may not be mastered in-house also is to be commended.”
Daher said the successful flight shows it can integrate new technologies quickly while using its existing industrial base to support national sovereignty and industrial acceleration. The company added that the work, carried out with the agency’s support, marks an important step toward series production of sovereign drone solutions for the French armed forces.
