Drones: Experts at our side

They're everywhere... whether they're used to deliver pizzas, create an artistic show, or more seriously, to support the armed forces, drones are now part of our landscape. Far from the recreational drone that we place under the Christmas tree and end up in the neighbor's trees, the solutions of the EDEN cluster's drone operators embody the performance, technology, and reliability of innovative French industries.

The few presentations below will introduce you to the major players in the sector, drone operators, image or information acquisition experts, or anti-drone specialists.

Elistair presents the SAFE-T 2: New standard for tethered drone stations

Elistair SAFE-T 2

The Safe-T 2 is Elistair's most advanced and powerful tethered system, compatible with a wide range of professional civilian drones. Resistant to harsh environments and IP54 certified, it is equipped with a 125 m micro-tether, offers a maximum continuous power of 2.2 kW with an industry-leading power-to-weight ratio thanks to its patented dynamic voltage optimization system, and a redundant secure data transfer option via optical fiber and PLC. The Safe-T 2 benefits from optimal energy efficiency and allows drones to fly safely continuously, for the most demanding missions.

“To create the Safe-T 2, we worked closely with our customers, who guided us with their feedback. We redesigned the solution to allow security forces to fly higher with heavier payloads.” Timothée PENET, co-founder of Elistair.

Thanks to NOVADEM: the Ministry of the Armed Forces doubles its fleet of micro-drones

Less than a year after deploying Novadem's first NX70 micro-drones for overseas operations (OPEX), the DGA has placed a new order with the Aix-based SME, doubling its fleet. This new acquisition brings the NX70 fleet to more than one hundred drones available to support French forces operations.

This order is in addition to the one placed at the end of 2018, bringing the total acquisition to more than four million euros for equipment and multi-year maintenance.

In addition to the drones, other peripheral equipment providing added value to the systems has been selected, such as cable power supply for flying for several hours continuously or even "remote video terminals" which allow any soldier on the ground to benefit from the video and cartographic feedback from the drone and thus share a global vision of the situation.

The NX70s are thus establishing themselves in the world of defense and are among the few micro-drones on the international level to receive the “Combat proven” label.

MERIO: High-performance observation systems

From the optronic ball to the image operator station, MERIO solutions are available in several high-performance products adapted to the different missions and platforms that can accommodate them. In the drone sector, no fewer than 8 models of gyro-stabilized balls are available, with models combining lightness and performance, and capable of carrying up to 5 kg of payload.

Since March 2020, Merio has been developing an optimized retraction system for a high-performance optronic ball intended for a fixed-wing drone for the Temis XL19. This ball, already used by the Forces in OPEX on a captive balloon, integrates several sensors.

Weight optimization allowed us to save 10% on the weight of the ball and to design a lightweight, remotely controllable robotic system to reenter and improve the drone's autonomy during its approach and to deploy the ball when it flies over the areas of interest.

ROBOOST maintains strong momentum in its Anti-Drone Fighting activities LAD

Cyber LAD is the central pillar due to its potential and effectiveness. Beyond Wi-Fi drones, DroneBlocker now ensures the detection, localization and tracking of frequency-evading drones, including DJI, with, above all, a very precise identification capacity and intelligent, reversible, selective neutralization: the target drone is neutralized without impacting other drones nearby.

The multi-layer dome concept allows for the association of other effectors with the Cyber LAD, progressively going from disconnection, to blinding, then to the destruction of the drone via directed energy sources. This dome proposed by ROBOOST was selected by the SDGSN in 2019 (AMI 4 JO 2024).

DroneBlocker is integrated by Groupe ADP into the Hologarde system intended for its own airport infrastructures and its own Customers.