Anti-drone fight: French army helicopters on the front line | Sea and Navy

In recent years, the French armed forces have undertaken to strengthen their anti-aircraft defense capabilities by equipping themselves with means capable of countering an emerging threat: kamikaze drones. Jammers integrated into land vehicles or ships, reinforcement of anti-aircraft missile equipment, Mistral 3 missiles, RAPIDFire cannons… The programs multiplied, but rare were the systems already operational and available in large numbers when the drones and missiles of Iranian cruise ships began to descend on the countries of the Persian Gulf, notably the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where many French assets are positioned, Paris having defense agreements with these nations. So much so that it is often expensive MICA air-to-air and Aster ground-to-air missiles which have had to be used to protect these territories and the French interests they host.

In order to reduce the pressure on the precious stocks of high-end missiles, and to quickly have means more adapted to the fight against kamikaze drones, in particular those of the Shahed family, the DGA (Directorate General of Armaments) and the armed forces have therefore turned to systems that are already good mastered, helicopters, which simply had to be adapted to this new mission.

The National Navy at the forefront

For certain French operators, the use of helicopters against drones is not a new problem. From March 2024, an AS565 Panther of the French Navy, on board the frigate Alsace (FREMM DA), shot down a Houthi drone using a 7.62 mm porthole machine gun.

This operational use followed several training campaigns, demonstrating anticipation of this threat on the part of the French Navy. Thus, in the fall of 2023, a Panther helicopter from the 36F flotilla participated in exercises to intercept and destroy aerial drones, including vectors operating in swarms.

 

 

The French Navy quickly became a pioneer in the use of helicopters to combat drones and kamikaze devices. In September 2024, two detachments from the 31F flotilla, equipped with NH90 Caïman Marine helicopters deployed aboard the FREMM DA Lorraine and the FREMM Langedoc, took part in the Wildfire anti-drone exercise.

The Caymans engaged in this exercise were equipped with a port weapon, in this case a 7.62 or 12.7 mm machine gun. Detection and target designation were carried out by the helicopter’s sensors, in particular the thermal camera.

Several scenarios were then implemented, day and night, in order to reproduce different operational situations. Various threat profiles were simulated with the aim of using all the capabilities of the system constituted by the frigates and their helicopters These training sessions made it possible to strengthen coordination between the different participating units and improve their responsiveness to the threat represented by drones.

 

 

Since then, the anti-drone combat capability of the Caïman Marine helicopters has been integrated into the basic missions of the aircraft and its crews. As the commander of Flotilla 31F, Commander Romain Champagne de Labriolle, explained to us last April:

For the anti-drone mission, we use port machine guns, M3Ms from FN Herstal, with a caliber of 12.7 mm. Today, the helicopter is an excellent anti-drone fight system, since it has the reach, speed and weaponry adapted to this mission.

I would also like to point out that the machine gun is not only used to counter rudder munitions or aerial drones, it also allows you to target surface drones and even underwater drones. The latter generally operate at very shallow depths, and we have already carried out successful tests with munitions adapted against this type of threat, which we are now able to deal with.

 

Today, whether with its Caïmans or its Panthers, French naval aeronautics positions itself as one of the most advanced European forces in the fight against unmanned vehicles using helicopters, both thanks to an employment doctrine proven (including in combat), trained crews and ammunition adapted to different threats.

Obviously, the continued evolution of the threat, which we have recently observed in the region of the Strait of Hormuz, pushes the French Navy to work on new solutions making it possible to deal more quickly with a greater number of targets, while ensuring the safety of its crews as best as possible. helicopters. This should involve the adoption of new, longer-reaching weapons. The integration of 68 mm laser-guided rockets (Thales) on the NH90 Caïman Marine would thus be studied.

 

 

Such a munition has the big advantage of being able to strike both aerial drones and small targets (drones or not) on the surface or on land, several kilometers away. Its interest also lies in its universality: already selected for the Tiger combat helicopter of the Army, its integration on the Rafale of the Air and Space Force (AAE) and the French Navy is Also under study. It should also be part of the range of weapons that will be offered on the future H160M Guépard, which will equip the Army, the AAE and the French Navy.

The use of this laser-guided rocket, however, requires a laser designator capability, provided either by the optronic system of the firing helicopter, or through a third-party designator, for example a drone. For the moment, the Caïman Marine do not have such a designation capacity, and there do not yet seem to be plans to replace their current optronic ball with new equipment, for example the Euroflir 410 from Safran which is to equip the new NH90 TTH Caïman Standard 2 of the Army. A small laser designator could, however, be integrated, at lower cost, on a Camcopter S-100 drone or a VSR700, alongside which naval aviation helicopters should operate in the coming years, on board the frigates FREMM, FREMM DA and FDI in particular.

Army: the Tiger at the forefront of the fight against drones

On the Army side, the spearhead of the helicopter-borne anti-drone fight is the Tiger combat helicopter. Following the first Iranian response strikes at the end of February, the ALAT Tigers (Light Army Air Force) were quickly deployed on land, in the United Arab Emirates, as well as off the coast of Cyprus, aboard the PHA Tonnerre, in order to carry out some anti-drone operations. Initially, these operations were carried out with basic but effective means: the 30 mm cannon in the turret, equipped with explosive incendiary shells, and the sights integrated on board the helicopter.

Operationally, the Tigers generally evolved one by one in a specific sector. On numerous occasions, they were able to shoot down multiple targets during a single flight. Almost all of the interceptions took place over the sea.

 

 

But in order to integrate a leading anti-drone capability into the Tiger, the Army and the DGA worked very quickly to add the L16 tactical data link, essential to be able to coordinate the actions of the Tiger with those of other allied and friendly aircraft in the surrounding area. The latter could be integrated into the device in less than two weeks, compared to several months in normal times.

On the armaments side, the Army and more particularly the ALAT, with the support of the manufacturers MBDA and Thales, are carrying out work aimed at very quickly equipping the Thales laser-guided rocket with an anti-drone mode, but also at restoring an air-air capacity to the Tiger, thanks to the missile MBDA Mistral 3 short-range anti-aircraft. The latter should have been part of the Tiger’s next industrial standard, but the operational emergency is pushing for a much faster integration. It should also be noted that, theoretically, the Tiger is already capable of firing the Mistral 2 missile. But it seems that the latter is no longer (or almost no longer) used by Army helicopters.

It should also be noted that the Army’s Tigers are now qualified to be able to land and take off from a FREMM, FREMMÂ DA or FDA frigate helicopter platform. This qualification was possible thanks to the presence at the same time and in the same place (probably in the Eastern Mediterranean in March) of a helicopter carrier, Tiger and FREMM and FDA frigates. This opportunity experiment took place over 4 days with day and night landings.

The objective of this experiment, as we explained in a dedicated article, is not to replace a Caïman Marine or a Panther on board a frigate of the French Navy, but to ensure that the Tiger is able to land on a FREMM or an FDA to benefit from refueling, or to carry out a short waiting period. The frigate then represents an extension for Tigers implemented from land.

 

 

Other anti-drone procedures have been tested and validated by the Army, notably on light Gazelle helicopters, equipped with 7.62 mm Gatling machine guns, or on helicopters NH90 TTH Caïman Terre, equipped with 12.7 mm machine guns, like their equivalents in the French Navy. But due to its operational speed and the range of its 30 mm armament, the Tiger remains, for the moment, the main anti-drone vector of the ALAT.

The Caracals of the Air and Space Force are equipped with air-to-air anti-drone capabilities

The Air and Space Force, for its part, recently validated the engagement of aerial drones from its own helicopter fleets, mainly its heavy Caracal helicopters and its light helicopters Fennec.

As part of a test campaign conducted on June 1 and 2, 2026 on the Biscarrosse shooting range, in Landes, in cooperation with the DGA and the Military Aerial Expertise Center (CEAM), the AAE achieved a first by experimenting with the engagement of aerial targets representative of an enemy drone from an H225M Caracal helicopter. For these shots, the crew used the port armament available to the aircraft, namely a 7.62 mm MAG58 machine gun or a 12.7 mm M3M. Until now, these weapons could only be used in air-to-ground firing mode, whether to ensure the immediate protection of the helicopter and its immediate environment or to provide fire support to ground forces.

 

 

This development opens up new employment prospects for the Caracal, both on the national territory and in external operations. In the current context, it mainly strengthens the means available to the AAE in the field of anti-drone combat, while integrating into an expanded multi-layer air defense approach.

The Air and Space Force fleet currently has 19 Caracals and should soon reach 27 units. In mainland France, these helicopters are operated from Cazaux air base 120 by the 1/67 “Pyrénées” helicopter squadron.

 

 

Outside mainland France, they are deployed in Cayenne, in Guyana, as well as in Djibouti. An establishment in Tontouta, New Caledonia, is also planned from this summer. Ultimately, they will take over from the SA 330 Puma still in service and will participate in strengthening French intervention capabilities in several areas considered strategic.

Fennec: the light helicopter optimized for anti-aircraft warfare

The Biscarrosse tests also used AAE AS555 Fennec helicopters. For the occasion, these aircraft also carried out engagements with 20 mm cannon against targets simulating drones. For the Fennec, this capability is not really new, since it is already implemented by the Fennec crews deployed in the Near and Middle East as part of the defense agreements linking France to several partners in the region.

Although very light (in the 2.5 ton class compared to 11 tons for a Caracal or a Caïman), the Fennec can be armed with a 20 mm M621 (KNDS) cannon in order to fulfill the MASA mission (active air security measures), which aims to ensure surveillance and the protection of sensitive sites from aerial threats represented by slow, light or ultra-light aircraft operating at low altitude.

 

 

They are regularly deployed for this purpose in Guyana, in order to protect the launches of Ariane or Vega rockets from the Kourou space center. If the 20 mm cannon offers a large extension and good firepower, it is also fixed in the flight axis of the Fennec, where the porthole armament (or the turret of the Tiger) allows it to be fired towards the side, and therefore to more easily free the helicopter gunner from any possible gunner. debris linked to the explosion of a downed kamikaze drone, for example.

Through these experiments, the AAE continues to expand its range of anti-drone means. The objective is to have additional capabilities to provide a graduated response depending on the nature of the threat, its flight profile and the operational context, whether these are missions relating to air policing or air defense.

All-round initiatives for the fight against drones

It should also be noted that the experimentation carried out by the AAE on the Caracal is part of a broader set of initiatives undertaken in recent months to adapt several air vectors to anti-drone combat missions. In addition to the study of the integration of guided rockets on Rafale, mentioned above, the AAE also optimized the fire control of the Rafale’s 30 mm cannon in order to counter small, slow targets, such as drones. The AAE also integrated the Hellfire missile on the MALE (medium altitude long endurance) MQ-9 Reaper drone. Initially intended for anti-tank combat, the Hellfire missile is regularly used by American and allied forces to counter aerial drones, but also surface drones.

In the longer term, the AAE, like the French Navy and the Army, also plan to implement drones specialized in the fight against drones. These systems are currently the subject of experiments intended to complete all of the capabilities operational strategies developed in this area by all French armed forces.

© An article from the editorial staff of Mer et Marine. Reproduction prohibited without consent of the author(s).