A quarter-century of small drones

Survey Copter has been building small unmanned aircraft at Pierrelatte, in the Drôme, since 1996 — long before drones were a household word. It has stayed small: the French naval industry association GICAN lists 53 staff and annual revenue of about €10 million. In 2011 the company became a subsidiary of Airbus, which gave a niche workshop access to the flight algorithms and integration know-how of one of Europe’s largest aerospace groups.

The Aliaca goes to sea

Its best-known product is the Aliaca, a catapult-launched, electrically powered fixed-wing drone with a 3.6-metre wingspan and a maximum take-off weight of 16 kg, recovered by flying it into a net. The type first flew in 2014 as the DVF 2000. In 2020 the French armament agency DGA ordered 11 systems with 22 aircraft for the French Navy’s SMDM programme, a deal reported at €19.7 million; a further 15 systems followed by 2024.

Catching the fishermen

Two operators and under fifteen minutes are enough to put an Aliaca in the air, and it can watch the sea for up to three hours at 50 km from its ship. That reach proved itself off West Africa: between December 2022 and February 2023, according to the French aviation database Aviations Militaires, Aliaca imagery helped the Guinean navy seize several Chinese vessels fishing without permits.

Factories

• Pierrelatte works · Pierrelatte, Drôme — Design, production and support of the drone range

People

• Christophe Canguilhem · president