MALE drone Aarok: Turgis Gaillard and Thales build French ISR platform with AirMaster S

Thales and aerospace and defence company Turgis Gaillard have joined forces to develop a fully French MALE drone – designed for medium altitude and long endurance (medium-altitude long-endurance, MALE). It is to be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

The basis is Turgis Gaillard's unmanned Aarok drone. Thales contributes the AirMaster S multi-role radar, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. It has already proven itself in live operations on the French maritime patrol platform “Atlantique 2”.

First MALE drone developed entirely in France

Turgis Gaillard first presented the Aarok at the 2023 Paris Air Show – as a MALE drone developed entirely in France. The system is designed specifically for high-intensity combat environments and maritime surveillance. With the integrated AirMaster S, which has AI functions, the Aaron is now to gain considerably more capabilities. Further Thales sensors could be added in future.

Philippe Duhamel, Executive Vice President for defence missions at Thales, emphasises: “Thales is pleased to be able to offer, with the Aaron, a 100 per cent French solution for operations in high-intensity scenarios – equipped with our most advanced AI-supported radar.”

Fanny Turgis and Patrick Gaillard, who head Turgis Gaillard, are equally convinced: “This partnership underlines our shared goal of further strengthening France's operational independence. The choice of the AirMaster S marks an important milestone on this path.”

The AirMaster S is versatile and reliably detects targets even under difficult operating conditions. The radar has been used successfully not only on the French “Atlantique 2” but also by international partners in real operational scenarios. Because it is compact and light, it is particularly well suited to integration on unmanned platforms.