French drone manufacturer Parrot announced that it will supply 300 ANAFI Unmanned Aerial Systems for the French Army under a five-year contract.
As noted by the company, Parrot was chosen by the French Defense Procurement Agency, DGA, to supply its ANAFI micro-drones to equip the French Armies.
Henri Seydoux, Chairman, CEO, founder and main shareholder of Parrot concludes: “We are very proud to have won this tender from the DGA and to keep working on further opportunities with the USA. It is the fruit of the meticulous work carried out by our teams in France for more than 2 years, and that of 10 years of expertise. By taking the bet of developing the ANAFI platform, designed for the general public, ruggedized for the needs of professionals, and secured for the requirements of the military forces, we have taken an important step for the Group. In today’s world, Parrot is convinced that it is key for security forces, and armies, to rely on powerful, high-tech consumer equipment that is highly secure.”
The selected ANAFI micro-drone is specially adapted for worldwide forces, offers soldiers a micro-drone of 500 grams with day and night observation capabilities. With a flight time of 32 minutes, it has the best performance in its category. The 5-year contract covers several hundred drones, the development of adaptations and the maintenance of equipment and software. The first systems will be delivered in the upcoming months.
ANAFI drone extends the reconnaissance capabilities of the French forces. Thanks to its powerful 32x zoom, articulated around two 4K 21-megapixel cameras, the detection of person-sized targets is possible up to 2km away with a detailed accuracy of 13cm. The zoom images are merged with those obtained by the FLIR Boson thermal imaging camera; the latter allows the detection of hot spots by day and by night. Deployable in 55 seconds, it is also very discreet: with a sound signature of 79 dB at a distance of 1m, it is inaudible from 130m.
Thanks to the technological partnerships implemented by Parrot with leading players in their fields, users can also benefit from the growing ecosystem of compatible software. For example, they can manage drone fleets in real-time (Skyward, A Verizon company and DroneSense), generate visible and thermal photos/videos (Survae) and tactical maps (Pix4Dreact). Parrot’s R&D services are also planned to further adapt ANAFI USA to the needs of the French forces.
ANAFI also meets the DGA requirements in terms of security. Securing the connection, securing the data, securing the firmware: it meets the most stringent cybersecurity standards. A digital signature protects against malicious attempts to modify the drone’s software. The drone allows mission data to be recorded only on the ground segment, not in the air vector, extracted afterward for analysis, by physical connection. ANAFI USA has a secure WPA2 connection and open protocols that guarantee confidence in the interoperability of recorded data for confidential missions.
ANAFI drone system is entirely developed in France and produced in the United States. No essential components are produced in China.