The French Navy (Marine Nationale) is looking towards a vertical take-off/landing capability for uncrewed aerial vehicles (VTOL UAV) to enhance the operational reach and flexibility of its surface ships, including those providing core at-sea surveillance presence for the navy, a senior officer from the service told a conference in London in late January.
Speaking at the SAE Media Group Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology event, Captain Johann Eidesheim – head of the Naval Air Office in the Naval Staff’s Plans and Programmes team – said the navy is assessing the VTOL variant of its Surveycopter Aliaca UAV. Aliaca is already in service onboard navy frigates, patrol vessels, and support ships. However, said Capt Eidesheim, the current launch-and-recovery (LAR) process – which is autonomous, but based around a catapult for launch and a net for recovery – presents restrictions and is not easy to use.
The VTOL capability is key to improving the LAR process and thus operational use, Capt Eidesheim told Naval News at the event:
“What we are doing is looking at the new VTOL Aliaca, [which is] more or less the same platform. However, the employment of the VTOL [variant] is easier because we do not need a catapult and we do not need a net to recover the UAV. We just need a ship …. That’s the main difference.”
No dates for delivering the new capability have been set. “We’ve just started to have a look at it with Survey Copter,” Capt Eidesheim continued. “We have to trial it onboard, and have to see if it responds to our objectives in terms of operational capability and in terms of training for our people – and if it is simplest to use by ship’s personnel not trained in using it.”
Regarding the operational capability objectives UAVs must meet, Capt Eidesheim explained, the aim is: to provide an uncrewed rotary-wing air capability for ships that do not have an embarked organic helicopter; or to complement the crewed capability onboard ships that do have an embarked helicopter.
In the former context, the navy’s Aliaca capability adds clear advantage. “It allows the vessel to expand the detection range, or at least the identification range,” said Capt Eidesheim. “So far, the only means to identify contacts gained by radar onboard a ship without a helicopter is with binoculars, or going close to the ship.” In sum, he said, the UAV can be used to identify a target ship at greater distance.
The navy also uses Aliaca UAVs ashore: at regional operations centres to provide shore-based surveillance; and at its UAV training centre, Capt Eidesheim told the conference.
The navy is considering other options for expanding its UAV capability, the captain continued. Amongst such options, it is currently conducting a study assessing a wider fit of the Schiebel S-100 Camcopter tactical UAV (main illustration) across its surface fleet (this UAV is currently operated from the navy’s Mistral-class helicopter assault ships). The navy, in combination with the French Air Force, is also participating in the European Union’s ‘Eurodrone’ programme, alongside Germany, Italy, and Spain, to deliver a medium-altitude long-range (MALE) UAV capability. This capability, which will provide both maritime and over-land surveillance, is set to be available between 2030-35.
Capt Eidesheim underlined that the navy sees crewed platforms and uncrewed platforms like UAVs as complementary, working together to enhance the fleet’s intervention capabilities.
The navy is starting to take an important step in upgrading the crewed element of its air-based maritime patrol capability, by assessing options for replacing its in-service Dassault Bréguet Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).
In late 2024, the navy proceeded into Phase One of a risk reduction study with Airbus, Capt Eidesheim told the conference.
On 4 February 2025, Airbus announced the contract, which involves the company’s A321 MPA.
Talking to Naval News, Capt Eidesheim explained that Phase One, which followed a study of concepts presented by Airbus and Dassault, is expected to run for around 18 months, and will conduct risk management of the Airbus concept from operational, technical, and financial perspectives, to ensure the programme is sustainable.
A final decision on progressing the programme is set for the end of 2026, although this does depend on how Phase One progresses, he continued.
Capt Eidesheim was keen to underline that no choice has been made on the future of the programme or on any particular concept design. There has been “No choice so far,” he explained to Naval News. “We had two different projects, the Airbus one and the Dassault one. At the end of the study of these two projects, we decided to go further with only one, with the Airbus one. That doesn’t mean the choice is made. It will depend on the results of this Phase One risk management process.”
The new MPA is expected to enter service in the mid-2030s, he added.
