French unmanned system manufacturer Delair announced the acquisition of Grenoble-based Squadrone System on 29 October 2024.
Founded in 2014, Squadrone System specialises in the design of multi-copter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for complex use cases such as: UAV swarming through the Tactical Multi-Objectives Swarming (TAMOS) project of France’s Agence Innovation Défense (AID – Defense Innovation Agency) and Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA –General Armaments Directorate); counter-UAV combat under the RapidEagle project; automated industrial inspections; aircraft ground inspections; and radio spectrum monitoring. The company has a workforce of 22 and an estimated turnover of EUR 2 million for 2024.
Squadrone System has also proved its ability to mass-produce UAVs in significant volumes with the Hexo+ UAV, which was produced in France at a rate of 600 UAVs/week, and to form partnerships for the dissemination of its key technologies with major defence players such as Thales and Safran Electronics & Defense.
With this acquisition, aerial and underwater unmanned system manufacturer Delair is positioning itself as a player in the strengthening French UAV sector. Delair is also reaching a new milestone in its growth, with a workforce of 150 and a projected turnover of more than EUR 30 million for 2024.
“While Delair’s decurity/defence business has been particularly dynamic over the past two years, our positioning is resolutely dual, with the aim of balancing our civil and military activities at mid-term,” explained Delair CEO Bastien Mancini in a company press release. “The acquisition of Squadrone System enables us not only to acquire directly the technological backbone of drone swarms, but also to develop our civil industrial inspection activity”, he added.
“The acquisition of Squadrone System is perfectly aligned with our technological roadmap, which is built around five major technological building blocks: energy, image processing, electronic warfare, swarms and certification,” said Mancini. “The synergies generated will enable us to gain precious time in an increasingly intense European and global competitive field.”
After its UAV-focused Toulouse site and facilities in Marseille, home to its marine and submarine activities, Grenoble, which is the historic hub of micro-electronics in France, will constitute a third site for Delair.
“This industrial and territorial vision of our development will enable us, step by step, to create a European leader in robotics, based on the technological, academic and industrial specialties specific to each territory and necessary for our complex systems. This will enable us to confront global competition with great ambition,” Mancini concluded.
