Deployed in the Middle East to support its partners, such as Qatar, Kuwait, or the United Arab Emirates, in the fight against drones, France is said to have shot down more than 80 Iranian Shahed drones since the beginning of the conflict, according to le JDD.
The French army deployed fourteen Rafales to reinforce the ten aircraft permanently stationed in the region. The ground forces also bolstered this setup by sending four Tiger helicopters from the Alat (Army light aviation) into the Gulf.
Now the question arises of adapting these aircraft to the specifics of anti-drone warfare, equipping them with more effective, and above all, less costly measures. Currently, the missiles used by the Rafales cost between 600,000 and 700,000 euros each, whereas the targeted Shahed drones are only around 30,000 euros each.
Implementation in three weeks instead of twelve to eighteen months
The Ministry of the Armed Forces announced on Wednesday in a statement that the combat DGA [Armament General Directorate] had been mobilized since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East to accelerate the evaluation of solutions to respond as quickly and pragmatically as possible to the evolving threats.” Centres of Expertise (CeR), established at the end of 2025 to conduct research on short-cycle technologies, are now being put to the test in the current conflicts.”
It was notably the Centre of Expertise for Anti-Drone Warfare (CeRLAD), attached to DGA Missile Tests (EM), which confirmed in the early weeks of the conflict “the Tiger helicopter’s ability to neutralize Shahed drone threats with its 30mm cannon” and recommended it to the armies “as an economical means of anti-drone warfare.”
DGA Flight Tests (DGA EV) has developed means “to allow tactical data exchange between the Tigers and the operational bubble where they are deployed.” The L16 capacity (NATO standard for exchanging information between military units) was integrated by DGA “in less than three weeks, compared to twelve to eighteen months using a conventional industrial process.” DGA EV and CeRLAD have successfully “completed testing and integration of the Mistral 3 air-to-air missile on the Tiger to enhance its interception capabilities.”
Engineers urgently deployed to Opex
Simultaneously, the DGA “launched the development of an anti-drone version of the laser-guided rocket, for use under Rafale and Tiger.” The first test flights are planned by the end of June, “for rapid deployment in the forces.” Photos of a Rafale equipped with laser-guided rockets, taken near the Istres Air Base (Bouches-du-Rhône), have been circulating in recent days and suggest that the tests have already started. The advantage of these rockets is that they are much cheaper than Mica missiles. The army is also looking to modify the Rafale’s 30mm cannon targeting system to enable them to shoot down drones.
Lastly, CeRLAD is also mobilized “to evaluate intercepting drone systems proposed by several manufacturers, including French ones.” They have organized “testing slots in very short timelines at DGA Missile Tests, both at their Landes site and their Levant site, to put the proposed equipment to the test.” In urgent situations, armament engineers “have also been deployed to reinforce French forces in external operations, to ensure the ramp-up and implementation of these innovative solutions up to the operation centers.”
When the Reaper drone itself becomes a drone hunter
In early April, the Air and Space Army (AAE) had already announced the adaptation of its MQ-9 Reaper drones for anti-drone warfare, after “successfully conducting experimental Hellfire missile tests from an MQ-9 Reaper drone on drone-type aerial targets.” This capability was made possible “just three months after the Hellfire’s service entry on the Reaper, [while] this ammunition was originally intended for ground targets.” This now allows the AAE to “have a range of complementary, graduated, and adapted responses to the diversity of threats.”
The AAE also has Fennec helicopters, “particularly suitable for dealing with relatively slow or low altitude threats,” and Mamba ground-to-air defense systems (SAMP/T) to support this anti-drone effort.
