On September 9, 2025, Aarok, the prototype Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone, developed by French company Turgis & Gaillard, carried out its maiden flight from Blois-Le Breuil airfield.
The flight lasted about an hour and demonstrated the maturity of the platform, according to the manufacturer. Conducted with a pilot on board for safety reasons, it marks a decisive step in France’s drive to field a sovereign MALE drone.
“This first flight crowns four years of significant effort to give birth to the first European MALE drone,” said Fanny Turgis, president of Turgis & Gaillard. “The team worked tirelessly to transform a simple idea into a finished aircraft, and Aarok has already demonstrated remarkable maturity.”
Patrick Gaillard, CEO of the company, added that all performance parameters during the sortie aligned with forecasts.
“Like during high-speed taxiing, everything went as expected. The aircraft displayed stable behavior, a clean takeoff, an impressive rate of climb, and overall reassuring performance for the next steps,” Gaillard commented.
Aarok positioned as a European alternative to the MQ-9 Reaper
The Aarok is designed to meet the intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike needs of the French armed forces and allied partners. With a maximum takeoff weight of 5.5 tonnes, a 1.5-tonne payload capacity, and a 1,200-horsepower engine, it is larger and more heavily armed than the MQ-9 Reaper drones currently operated by France. According to its developers, these figures place it in a class of its own in Europe, offering a sovereign alternative to US-made drones.
The project has already attracted support from the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. During a visit to Blois-Le Breuil in February 2025, then-minister Sébastien Lecornu highlighted the importance of a domestic MALE program for intelligence gathering, maritime surveillance, and long-range support missions.
That backing was formalized at the Paris Air Show in June 2025, when France’s Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) announced financial support for the Aarok. At the same event, Turgis & Gaillard and Thales unveiled a surveillance variant equipped with the AirMaster S radar, reinforcing the system’s scalability.
With the first flight complete, the Aarok program now moves into expanded test phases, including unmanned sorties, payload trials, and certification steps. Turgis & Gaillard reported that its teams are “determined to make the Aarok available to French and allied forces as quickly as possible”.
