The French army would get a drubbing: why Ukrainian know

Three Ukrainian manufacturers were present in April at a highly confidential Franco-Ukrainian defense forum to establish partnerships in a spy movie-like atmosphere: anonymity or fake names required, interviews on a bench near the Champs-Elysées, changing lounges at the slightest mention of Russian words.

“We want to see how countries that have supported us like France can benefit from our experience,” explains Olexandre, an engineer from Bavovna who has been producing attack drones since 2022, including Ukraine’s largest strike drone, Perun Max.

The sky of drones makes the battlefield transparent where men and tanks become targets as soon as they venture into a “no man’s land” of about twenty kilometers, French military personnel and experts highlighted at the Wars and Peace forum organized by “Le Point.”

Innovation is underway in France: 5,000 of the 77,000 men in the operational terrestrial forces are to be redirected to drone-related specialties, according to General Bruno Baratz, commander of future combat.

A transformation is certainly underway in France: 5,000 of the 77,000 men in the operational terrestrial forces are to be redirected to drone-related specialties, according to General Bruno Baratz, commander of future combat. Facing mass-produced products “that are meant to wear our system down,” “we need equally massive, inexpensive, and easy-to-produce systems,” he added, pointing out France’s lag and the reluctance of some military hierarchy.

For Bastien Mancini, the head of the French drone manufacturer Delair, the challenge is to reduce costs to avoid asymmetry. “Three years ago, our drones were shot down by Russian missiles that were much more expensive; today they are shot down by much cheaper systems,” he explained. Other start-ups like Alta Ares or Harmattan AI are also using feedback from the Ukrainian front to improve their technologies.

Critics were raised when the patron of German tank giant Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, described the Ukrainian drones as “not very innovative,” manufactured, according to him, “in the kitchen by housewives,” in an interview with the American magazine “The Atlantic” in March.