France’s military has announced certification of the Airbus Aliaca maritime reconnaissance, monitoring, and data collection “mini-drone” – a somewhat approximate description of a UAV with a 2.2-meter wingspan and payload capacity of 16 kgs that will soon be accompanying French Navy vessels.

France’s Direction générale de l’armement, which oversees specific criteria qualification and procurement of material for the nation’s military agencies, announced its acceptance of the new aerial asset today. Deployment of Aliaca mini-drones comes under a contract signed last year with Airbus worth $19.7 million to provide aerial systems to France’s Navy. 

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Indulging its nearly Soviet-grade adoration of long, acronym-necessitating titles, the French military is calling the program and material in it “Systèmes de Mini Drones aériens embarqués de la…

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Source: dronedj.com