France is accelerating a pragmatic shift in military procurement by betting on unmanned systems and a rapid, trial‑driven acquisition model. In late January the defence minister visited Toulon to watch seven prototype surface armed drones compete in a week of sea trials, part of a programme launched at the end of 2025 to give the navy quick access to armed unmanned surface vessels for coastal protection and ship escort.
The competition, organised by the French procurement agency with input from industry and the general staff, embodies a deliberate change in procurement logic. Rather than writing exhaustive technical specifications and eliminating bidders that fail to tick every box, the ministry is putting small sums behind multiple prototypes, collecting performance data in real conditions and letting demonstrated capability guide further selection and scaling.
The timeline is tight: trials this month will reduce the field to three contenders in February–March, with one or two winners expected to be selected for service introduction in early 2027. Officials frame the shift as a response to changed forms of warfare and an urgent need to close the gap between operational requirements and delivered capability — a particular concern for problems such as port security, escorting high‑value vessels and defending anchorages against unmanned threats.
The surface‑drone push sits alongside a larger procurement spike in unmanned aerial systems. The navy has just ordered a dozen shipborne drones, including Airbus’s VSR700 and the Austrian Camcopter, while the procurement agency says the first tranche of 1,000 AI‑capable small drones has been delivered to the armed forces. Paris has also placed first orders for long‑range, one‑way loitering munitions produced in partnership with a European missile group and a French design firm, systems that officials say will reach forces in mid‑2027 and boast ranges beyond 500km and speeds above 400km/h.
Ministers and procurement chiefs have signalled several structural priorities to make rapid adaptation sustainable: decentralise buying decisions, prune costly or irrelevant rules, and forge faster pathways between start‑ups and large industrial groups. The stated aim is not to hoard stockpiles but to ensure industrial surge capacity so production can scale quickly when needed, a lesson drawn from recent conflicts where sheer production tempo mattered as much as unit sophistication.
For industry, the approach is a push‑and‑pull: the state wants innovation from small firms but also the manufacturing backbone and export capacity of big defence groups. Paris says higher export volumes will be necessary to preserve its domestic industrial base and keep pace with technological change, signalling an intent to turn rapid procurement experiments into sustained industrial programmes.
The French move illustrates a broader Western shift toward cheaper, distributed and more expendable systems that can be iterated quickly. That trend promises faster fielding of useful capabilities but also raises questions about command‑and‑control resilience, vulnerability to electronic attack, and the doctrines that will govern the use of increasingly autonomous and one‑way weapons.