French Navy vessels based in Brest recently took part in the first Wildfire counter drone exercise in the Atlantic. A similar exercise took place last year in the Mediterranean to train Toulon-based vessels and sailors.
French Navy press release
Organized by the training division of the surface strike force, Wildfire is an advanced tactical training aimed to prepare French Navy units based in Brest to the fight against unmanned surface and aerial vehicles – threats they could face during their next operational deployments.
For this first phase, the Navy deployed the following units:
On April 29th:
- Multi-mission frigate ‘Bretagne’
- Multi-mission frigate ‘Auvergne’
- Offshore patrol vessel ‘Enseigne de vaisseau Jacoubet’.
On May 6th:
- Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Enseigne de vaisseau Jacoubet’
- NH90 helicopter ‘Caiman Marine’
The ships faced assaults and swarms of unmanned vehicles deployed by the French Procurement Agency (DGA). Knowing neither the scenario nor the threats, the ships had to call on the sailors’ operational creativity, expertise and tactical thinking.
This type of exercise allows us to test our organizations’ ability to combat asymmetric threats in as realistic context as possible. The use of different tactics and a wide range of anti-drone equipment enabled us to capitalize on feedback that will be used by the Naval Action Force Center of Expertise (CENTEX FAN).
-End-
Naval News comments:
This is the second edition of the Wildfire – a recurring exercise happening twice a year dedicated to counter UxVs threat. The first one took place in September 2024. Naval News reported about some of the new solutions (jammers from MC2 technologies and SeaOwl’s target USVs) used during this exercise while covering Euronaval 2024.
In a video about the exercise released by the French Navy on social media, the ships used various types of ammunition – from 20mm guns to 76mm main gun – to counter the USVs and UAVs. The video shows also a NH90 helicopter with its mounted 7.62mm machine gun shooting down a UAV while in flight, reproducing an event that happened in the Red Sea when a AS565 Panther helicopter from the FREMM Alsace successfully intercepted a Houthi UAV in 2024.
#Wildfire | La Marine s’entraîne à lutter contre les drones ! 🔥🛡️ La division entraînement de la FAN a organisé l’exercice Wildfire en Atlantique. Cet entraînement prépare les unités basées à Brest à la lutte contre les drones de surface et aériens 🛩 @DGA @premar_ceclant pic.twitter.com/kujs6ZpmGX
— Marine nationale (@MarineNationale) May 15, 2025
