At the Louise Weiss high school in Sainte-Marie-aux-mines, a small town in the Vosges mountains region of Alsace, students have become the first to specialize in the field of Cyberscurity, IT, networks, and electronics as part of their professional Baccalauréat program.
In the electronics laboratory, teenagers are immersed in various activities. Two of them are working on a test bench to determine at what speed a drone might take off by gradually increasing the engine rotations.
Damien, 18, is assembling an S500 V2 drone kit to understand the construction process, materials used, motors, batteries, and more. The goal is to learn to create drones themselves.
The only girl in the class, Charlotte, is focused on a 3D model of a ruined tower reconstructed from drone-captured images. During training, she learned about rules related to drone use, such as restricted flying zones requiring authorization.
By introducing a drone option in this professional program, the school aims to create an innovative pathway that utilizes drones as learning tools. A partnership with the air force has allowed students to receive drone piloting lessons and visit air bases in the region.
These skills are of interest to the military, as drones are crucial for surveillance and security purposes. The army is increasingly investing in drone technology and training personnel to operate and counter hostile drone threats.
Among the students at Louise-Weiss, 17-year-old Nolan hopes his drone knowledge will give him a competitive edge in pursuing a military career. While drones are not intended to be weapons, they can be used for reconnaissance and other operations.
Apart from the military, other sectors like energy efficiency monitoring in businesses and agriculture also hold promising prospects for drone applications.
The drone specialization has sparked renewed interest in the Cyberscurity, IT, networks, and electronics program. The school administration aims to make this training sustainable and potentially expand it to other high schools across France.
Source: AFP
