You can't even call this a drone: the French military is interested in the MALE Aarok UAV weighing 5.5 tons

France actively joined the race to create modern reconnaissance and strike drones.

UAV developer Turgis & Gaillard is actively promoting its MALE Aarok (Medium Altitude Long Endurance in Ukrainian) drone to the market, ArmyInform reports.

French developers during the presentation of the new Aarok drone immediately called it the first European military drone of the MALE class.

MALE — is an American acronym for the medium-altitude, long-duration drone community. Thus, Aarok MALE can be considered a direct competitor and analogue of the American reconnaissance and strike drone MQ-9 Reaper (“Reaper”), about which our editors told in detail in one of their publications.

Interestingly, the French drone was developed by a comparatively small private company, Turgis & Gaillard. The company was founded in 2011 year, its employee number is about 300 people, and annual turnover — 50 million euros.

The 5.5-ton UAV will stay in the air for 24 hours thanks to a turboprop engine that develops 1,200 horsepower and is relatively quiet. According to unofficial information, the power plant will be the Ardiden 3TP Safran engine. At the air show in France, a model with a PT6 engine from the Canadian branch of the Pratt & Whitney company was demonstrated.

The manufacturer separately emphasizes the high strength characteristics of its drone, which allows it to rise in the air even with  unprepared runways. It is possible to operate from ground airfields under any weather conditions in automatic take-off and landing mode.

The cruising speed of the French drone is 250 knots — 463 km/h, cruising altitude — 9150 meters (echelon FL300).

Technical characteristics of Aarok:

• wingspan — 22 m;
• length — 14 m;
• take-off weight — 5500 kg;
• speed — 463 km/h;
• maximum flight height — 9144 m;
• engine type — aviation gas turbine.

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Like and the American "Reaper", the French drone Aarok can be in the air up to a day and a half hours. This allows UAVs to be used to work over the open sea for maritime patrol and reconnaissance tasks.

The drone is equipped with a retractable landing gear. Of interesting features — the optical-electronic surveillance station is installed closer to the tail of the drone. The station contains electro-optical and infrared cameras and a laser range finder. Laser target illumination and guidance of guided weapons are possible.

In the middle part of the drone's fuselage, a multi-mode radar can be installed, which is used, including for ground surveillance and mapping tasks. It is also possible to search for sea and air targets.

The manufacturer reports that the drone can carry up to 4 high-precision guided munitions (GPS-INS, laser or infrared guidance) weighing 250 kg or up to two munitions weighing 500 kg each. The declared range of hitting targets — 35 km. In addition, the drone can carry up to 16 air-to-ground missiles. with range up to 15 km. Most likely, it is about AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or analogues, specific models are not disclosed.

Compared to its competitors, the UAV is much lighter and cheaper than the EuroDrone, which is currently being developed under the leadership of Airbus Defence & Space. The French Air Force is expected to receive six EuroDrone systems in the future, with four currently on order for around 2 billion euros.

General Stéphane Mille, chief of staff of the French Air Force, believes it is a "quite attractive" aircraft," reported the Zone Militaire portal.

"And I"m prepared to pay to see it, because"between what"we"announce and"what"we"can"do,"""" he said during parliamentary hearings.

«Aarok — is a very interesting project, to be very clear. Overall, the work is high quality and is carried out in trustful relations between Turgis & Gaillard and the departments», —said the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.