Daher has successfully flown its EyePulse MALE (Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance) drone demonstrator, achieving a key commitment to the French defense procurement agency (DGA) in under six months. The flight, conducted from Daher’s facility in Tarbes, France, marks a significant step in rapidly bolstering drone capabilities for the French armed forces.
The demonstration featured a fully automated sequence, including autonomous landing. As the project architect, Daher integrated Thales’s ScaleFlyt avionics system into an existing airframe. The autonomous phase was activated from the ground by the DGA’s Deputy Director General, Alexandre Lahousse, highlighting the collaborative nature of the project. Thales provided the critical command-and-control data link and remote piloting system.
This rapid development showcases Daher’s agility in applying its civil aviation expertise to defense needs. The company leveraged its certified manufacturing know-how, rapid prototyping abilities, and its Fly’in technology center in Tarbes to expedite the integration of Thales’s technology onto the proven EyePulse platform.
The EyePulse drone’s modular and interoperable design is intended to adapt to evolving military operational doctrines. According to Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher Aircraft, the flight validates the company’s approach to using dual-use innovation to support France’s defense transformation and prepare for series production.
IGCEA Lahousse commended Daher’s speed and agility, noting the strategic value of its sovereign industrial capabilities within France and its effective collaboration with technology partners like Thales.
With this milestone, supported by the DGA, Daher demonstrates its capacity to rapidly innovate and integrate new technologies, leveraging an existing industrial base to meet sovereignty and acceleration challenges on the path to producing operational solutions.
