French Air Force turns to U.S. Hellfire missiles for first armed MQ-9 Reaper trials
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The French Air and Space Force has conducted its first live-fire evaluation of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from an MQ-9 Reaper drone during trials in Corsica. The tests mark a milestone in France’s effort to expand Reaper strike options while bridging the gap until European drone systems mature.
The Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force declared on X on 16 October 2025, that crews completed the first evaluation firings of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a French MQ-9 Reaper. The shots were conducted this week by the Air Warfare Center and the 33rd Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Attack Wing, including at the Solenzara range in Corsica. French trade press later detailed four missiles fired and confirmed the Reaper’s new mixed loadout now includes dual-mode GBU-49 bombs alongside Hellfire. The service also highlighted extended-endurance wings and a communications-intelligence pod that together tighten the find-fix-finish loop.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
A French Air and Space Force MQ-9 Reaper conducts live-fire trials with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and GBU-49 bombs, marking a major step in arming France’s U.S.-made drones while highlighting the tension between operational needs and European defense sovereignty (Picture source: French Air Force).
The Hellfire R2 is a 49-kilogram, semi-active laser–guided missile with a multimission warhead designed to defeat armor, light structures, and small boats while minimizing collateral effects. Typical range runs to 8 kilometers from rotary or unmanned launch platforms, with variants optimized for UAS employment to improve high-altitude kinematics and guidance stability. On the MQ-9, up to eight Hellfires can be carried on wing stations, paired with 500-pound Paveway/Enhanced Paveway munitions to cover the spectrum from fleeting point targets to fixed aimpoints in poor weather.
The GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II adds INS/GPS to a 500-lb laser-guided bomb, enabling accurate release through cloud while retaining terminal laser homing against movers. This pairing matters for a Reaper Block 5 ER because the airframe’s endurance can exceed 30 hours with the extended-range kit, letting a single crew persist, surveil and then apply the right effector the moment a target appears. French reporting notes the addition of a BAE Systems COMINT pod alongside extended-span wings, a combination that compresses sensor-to-shooter timelines over the Mediterranean and other littorals.
France’s closest homegrown analogue to Hellfire is MBDA’s Akeron LP, selected for the Tiger Mk III and engineered for helicopters, MALE UAV and ground vehicles. Akeron LP brings a fifth-generation seeker suite that fuses semi-active laser with TV and uncooled IR, a bidirectional RF datalink for man-on-the-loop control, selectable trajectories including top-attack, and a modular warhead claimed to defeat modern ERA. Range is published as more than 8 kilometers and up to 20 kilometers from UAV profiles, with successful DGA/OCCAR test firings this year marking program maturity for Tiger integration.
Why then field U.S. missiles on a U.S. drone in the era of European sovereignty? The blunt answer is certification and time. MQ-9 is already qualified for Hellfire and GBU-49, the U.S. Air Force provides a stable weapons baseline, and Washington cleared a major FMS package for 1,515 AGM-114R2 in 2023, giving France depth of stock and training rounds. By contrast, integrating a European missile on a U.S. air vehicle requires U.S. software changes, flight-clearance work, and export approvals that historically slowed French arming of the Reaper. The new shots reflect those hurdles finally easing, not vanishing.
The Reaper-Hellfire-GBU-49 mix offers a calibrated toolset for counter-terrorism, maritime constabulary tasks and border security. Crews can lase and strike a pickup, a mortar team or a fast inshore attack craft with a single Hellfire, or prosecute compound-size targets with GBU-49 through dust or haze. The platform’s long persistence, now paired with SIGINT cueing, makes it valuable for patrolling shipping lanes and responding within seconds once positive identification is achieved, reducing the risk of fratricide or collateral damage that comes with manned fast-jet time-on-target cycles.
The timing underscores Europe’s uneasy balance between autonomy and urgency. Eurodrone and national MALE demonstrators are advancing but have slipped, pushing capitals to buy American for missions they must perform today. Paris is still investing in sovereign effectors like Akeron LP and pressing industry to deliver European drones, yet the first French Reaper Hellfire shots show that, for the near term, combat credibility will ride on U.S. integration pathways and ITAR-managed supply. France is buying time with U.S. weapons as it builds the industrial base to replace them.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
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The French Air and Space Force has conducted its first live-fire evaluation of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from an MQ-9 Reaper drone during trials in Corsica. The tests mark a milestone in France’s effort to expand Reaper strike options while bridging the gap until European drone systems mature.
The Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force declared on X on 16 October 2025, that crews completed the first evaluation firings of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a French MQ-9 Reaper. The shots were conducted this week by the Air Warfare Center and the 33rd Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Attack Wing, including at the Solenzara range in Corsica. French trade press later detailed four missiles fired and confirmed the Reaper’s new mixed loadout now includes dual-mode GBU-49 bombs alongside Hellfire. The service also highlighted extended-endurance wings and a communications-intelligence pod that together tighten the find-fix-finish loop.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
A French Air and Space Force MQ-9 Reaper conducts live-fire trials with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and GBU-49 bombs, marking a major step in arming France’s U.S.-made drones while highlighting the tension between operational needs and European defense sovereignty (Picture source: French Air Force).
The Hellfire R2 is a 49-kilogram, semi-active laser–guided missile with a multimission warhead designed to defeat armor, light structures, and small boats while minimizing collateral effects. Typical range runs to 8 kilometers from rotary or unmanned launch platforms, with variants optimized for UAS employment to improve high-altitude kinematics and guidance stability. On the MQ-9, up to eight Hellfires can be carried on wing stations, paired with 500-pound Paveway/Enhanced Paveway munitions to cover the spectrum from fleeting point targets to fixed aimpoints in poor weather.
The GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II adds INS/GPS to a 500-lb laser-guided bomb, enabling accurate release through cloud while retaining terminal laser homing against movers. This pairing matters for a Reaper Block 5 ER because the airframe’s endurance can exceed 30 hours with the extended-range kit, letting a single crew persist, surveil and then apply the right effector the moment a target appears. French reporting notes the addition of a BAE Systems COMINT pod alongside extended-span wings, a combination that compresses sensor-to-shooter timelines over the Mediterranean and other littorals.
France’s closest homegrown analogue to Hellfire is MBDA’s Akeron LP, selected for the Tiger Mk III and engineered for helicopters, MALE UAV and ground vehicles. Akeron LP brings a fifth-generation seeker suite that fuses semi-active laser with TV and uncooled IR, a bidirectional RF datalink for man-on-the-loop control, selectable trajectories including top-attack, and a modular warhead claimed to defeat modern ERA. Range is published as more than 8 kilometers and up to 20 kilometers from UAV profiles, with successful DGA/OCCAR test firings this year marking program maturity for Tiger integration.
Why then field U.S. missiles on a U.S. drone in the era of European sovereignty? The blunt answer is certification and time. MQ-9 is already qualified for Hellfire and GBU-49, the U.S. Air Force provides a stable weapons baseline, and Washington cleared a major FMS package for 1,515 AGM-114R2 in 2023, giving France depth of stock and training rounds. By contrast, integrating a European missile on a U.S. air vehicle requires U.S. software changes, flight-clearance work, and export approvals that historically slowed French arming of the Reaper. The new shots reflect those hurdles finally easing, not vanishing.
The Reaper-Hellfire-GBU-49 mix offers a calibrated toolset for counter-terrorism, maritime constabulary tasks and border security. Crews can lase and strike a pickup, a mortar team or a fast inshore attack craft with a single Hellfire, or prosecute compound-size targets with GBU-49 through dust or haze. The platform’s long persistence, now paired with SIGINT cueing, makes it valuable for patrolling shipping lanes and responding within seconds once positive identification is achieved, reducing the risk of fratricide or collateral damage that comes with manned fast-jet time-on-target cycles.
The timing underscores Europe’s uneasy balance between autonomy and urgency. Eurodrone and national MALE demonstrators are advancing but have slipped, pushing capitals to buy American for missions they must perform today. Paris is still investing in sovereign effectors like Akeron LP and pressing industry to deliver European drones, yet the first French Reaper Hellfire shots show that, for the near term, combat credibility will ride on U.S. integration pathways and ITAR-managed supply. France is buying time with U.S. weapons as it builds the industrial base to replace them.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
