Naval Group and the start-up Icarus Swarms, part of Dronisos, have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop drone swarm solutions for navies. The fight against asymmetric warfare is one of the major concerns of 21st century navies. Drone swarms or robot swarms represent both a threat and an opportunity for existing fleets. Drone swarms, whether airborne, surface or underwater, are resilient, saturating and elusive. They thus make it possible to carry out new forms of missions that are complementary to conventional vectors. Navy missions can therefore be impacted by these new technologies.
To strengthen their collaboration, Naval Group and Icarus Swarms have formalized their partnership in a memorandum of understanding signed on February, the 1st, 2022. The complementary expertise of Naval Group and Icarus Swarms in the field of drone swarms should lead to the emergence of tomorrow’s uses. This partnership has already led to regular trials, some of which are carried out in collaboration with the French Navy. Naval Group and Icarus Swarms have already carried out simulated attacks of ten to one hundred drones to test systems for detecting asymmetric threats using Dronisos’ Certifence product.
These new applications will be developed and tested, in particular in New Aquitaine, at the Naval Group site in Angoulême-Ruelle as well as at the Dronisos offices in Bordeaux. The Angoulême-Ruelle site specializes in the design, manufacture, testing and maintenance of a wide range of equipment for the surface and submarine vessels of its navy customers. The Innov’Factory, Naval Group’s 4700m2 building based in Ruelle sur Touvre, dedicated to innovation and development, will welcome the project team in the coming months to continue the exchanges and explore future joint developments.
Placed under the authority of the Agence de l’Innovation de defense (AID) in cooperation with the French army Etat-major (EMA), France’s defence procurement agency (DGA) and the Direction Générale des relations internationals et de la Sratégie (DGRIS), the Red Team offers a prospective vision in order to anticipate the technological, economic, societal and environmental risks likely to generate potential conflicts by 2030-2060. The signing of this partnership is part of the company’s innovation approach, which already brings together laboratories, start-ups, industrialists and navies around the theme of drone swarms