“I want us to be able to achieve in the maritime domain what we have achieved in the aerial domain — that is, the ability for all our industrial players to put forward proposals and, of course, provide us with drones that enable us, among other things, to protect ourselves and to protect our vessels. You have seen that there are many extremely interesting uncrewed underwater vehicles, mine-hunting drones, and a very large number of innovations,” declared French Minister for the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin yesterday at the signing of the pact.

In concrete terms, the steering committee will be run by the DGA and GICAN, the French Maritime Industry Association, to set strategic directions through plenary information sessions and thematic working groups.

Focusing on uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), these groups will tackle priority issues, including the identification of specific defence technology building blocks, standardisation, the volume and sovereignty of the value chain, and technical-operational testing and experimentation capabilities — including the new CeRDAN Centre for Naval Drones and Autonomous Systems, housed within the DGA Techniques Navales facility in Toulon.

According to the Ministry for the Armed Forces, this framework is designed to provide industry with greater visibility regarding public procurement priorities. This will be achieved through “the sharing of technology intelligence, the anticipation of calls for bids, and the dissemination of requests for information.”

The Ministry is hoping to replicate the success of the aerial drones pact, which brings together more than 180 French participants, ranging from start-ups to major groups and research laboratories.