French Navy clears Airbus Aliaca VTOL drone for shipboard service

France’s defense procurement agency (DGA) has qualified the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) version of Airbus Helicopters’ U010 Aliaca tactical drone for service with the French Navy. 

The qualification, announced by Airbus as the Euronaval exhibition opened near Paris, follows a series of land and sea trials conducted with the French Navy in May and June 2026.  

It clears the drone to enter service under the SMDM (Système de Mini-Drones embarqués pour la Marine) program. Airbus said the first two VTOL systems had already been delivered to the Navy in September 2026. 

Victor Gerin-Roze, Head of Uncrewed Aerial Systems at Airbus Helicopters, described the drone as “ready for immediate operational deployment.” 

Eight VTOL systems among 34 ordered 

The DGA has ordered 34 Aliaca systems, each comprising two drones. Airbus said eight of those systems will be delivered in the VTOL configuration. 

When Airbus announced the VTOL order in February 2026, it had expected deliveries to begin in May, following qualification trials. 

Unlike the original Aliaca, which is launched by catapult and recovered in a net, the VTOL variant uses four additional propellers to take off and land vertically before switching to fixed-wing flight. Removing the need for launch and recovery equipment makes it easier to operate the drone from smaller ships. 

Both versions share the same ground control station and operating system, allowing crews already familiar with the Aliaca to transition to the new configuration. 

The original fixed-wing Aliaca, also qualified by the DGA, has been in service since 2022. It equips high-seas patrol vessels (PHM), overseas patrol vessels (POM) and surveillance frigates, and has also been used for search and rescue missions over the English Channel since 2023. 

The DGA has gradually expanded the fleet, including through an order for 15 additional fixed-wing systems in February 2024. 

First deployments planned for late 2026 

Airbus U010 Aliaca VTOL drone approaches a French Navy vessel during trials at sea. (Credit: Airbus Helicopters)The VTOL Aliaca will initially equip the French Navy’s metropolitan support and assistance vessels (BSAM) and overseas support and assistance vessels (BSAOM), extending drone operations to ships that were not originally designed to carry them. 

The overseas vessels operate from New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Réunion and Martinique, supporting maritime surveillance and security missions across the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean. The French Navy will begin deployment aboard BSAMs in late 2026, followed by BSAOMs in 2027. 

Originally developed by French drone manufacturer Survey Copter, an Airbus subsidiary since 2011, the Aliaca was transferred to the Airbus Helicopters portfolio in October 2025 as part of a wider reorganization of the group’s tactical drone activities. 

The Aliaca is also part of a broader effort to expand the French Navy’s shipborne drone capabilities. In January 2026, Airbus announced that the DGA had awarded Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group a contract to produce six VSR700 rotary-wing drones, which the Navy plans to begin operating in 2028.The post French Navy clears Airbus Aliaca VTOL drone for shipboard service appeared first on AeroTime.

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