Eurasia Press & News
The French army continues to increase its flotilla of microdrones. The Belgian newspaper Army Recognitions announces a new order for 50 Novadem microdrones.
The French army did start equipping its units with microdrones in 2018, and today, the number of these drones ordered from Paris is increasing proportionally and very fast. With the new order, the French troops will have a quantity of 150 microdrones.
The French Ministry of Defense has ordered the last 50 units at the end of 2020. The ordered model is NX70. For all 150 micro-drones, France will pay a total of 6 million euros, and the value of all three orders includes equipment, spare parts, and a certain maintenance period.
According to the Belgian edition, the French army expects the 50 microdrones delivery in two stages – the first batch by the end of April this year and the second by the end of the summer.
More about the NX70
NX70 is a microdrone developed by the French company Novadem. The NX70 microdrones have an optical night vision system and a thermal camera. The difference between the old models and the French company is that the new NX70 has a thermal camera with almost double its resolution.
However, the French army’s latest order has one feature – Novadem will deliver half of the new drones (25) with an improved thermal camera with a resolution of 640 px.
The French use the NX70 in various surveillance, reconnaissance, and marking military missions around the world. The French army intelligence and field reconnaissance units do use the NX70 during combat operations.
The NX70 transmits data in real-time. This type of microdrone is quite flexible in terms of its functional purposes. It can be used stationary, mounted on an armored vehicle, or put into the flight and operated by soldiers on the battlefield.
COVID-19 did not affect Novadem
Unlike many military companies around the world affected by the coronavirus, the French company is on the other side of the coin. The company’s activity was not reduced or terminated; on the contrary – in 2020, the company reported increased revenues and profits.
The same is expecting to happen in the current 2021. In addition to the new order from the French army, expectations for 2021 are favorable due to the highly developed research and development activities of the LynkEU project. This program is a European project for the industrial development of defense, and Novadem is one of the participants in it.
Another positive signal for the current year is the announcement that the company is starting to recruit more staff as it suffers from labor shortages. Mostly engineers and business associates will be sought. The company also plans to expand the production area of its plant to 1000m².
