Kamikaze drones for Ukraine: Renault prepares Chorus production in Le Mans and Cléon

As the French business magazine L’Usine Nouvelle reports, Renault is preparing to produce kamikaze drones for Ukraine: the French carmaker is to build a long-range attack and reconnaissance drone at its Le Mans and Cléon plants.

The design comes from Turgis Gaillard. In the drone sector, the company, which specialises in aerospace and defence, is known among other things for the Aarok medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) combat drone, which made its first test flight in September 2025.

Chorus is the name of the model for Ukraine. The name is derived from choir and, in audio engineering, denotes an acoustic effect – possibly a hint that the weapon is intended for swarm or group attacks rather than solo missions. That would be in line with current developments in the drone war in Ukraine: mesh modems are increasingly being found in downed Russian Geran drones. They are apparently used to coordinate attack flights in real time in order to steer the drones past identified air defence positions.

A kamikaze drone built with car industry methods

Chorus was announced by Sébastien Lecornu in summer 2025; the programme is led by the French defence procurement agency (DGA). It is intended to give France a remotely controlled long-range weapon comparable to the Iranian Shahed and Russian Geran-2 drones. According to L’Usine Nouvelle, Chorus is also suitable for reconnaissance and observation missions.

Together with Renault, Turgis Gaillard designed the Chorus so that it can be built using the production and assembly processes common in the automotive industry. According to the magazine, the drone is about ten metres long with a wingspan of eight metres. Up to 600 units a month are to be produced. If successful, a ten-year DGA contract worth around one billion euros is in prospect.