Safran Power Units will supply the two turbojet engines that power the Falcon, a reusable supersonic aerial target that Canada’s UVAD Technologies Inc. is developing for missile defence training. The companies announced the propulsion partnership at Euronaval in Paris on November 3, 2026, and said the program will enter its flight test phase in 2027 after ground testing in 2026.

According to Safran’s press release, the engines will let the Falcon reach supersonic speeds at low and medium altitudes while allowing rapid deployment and recovery, which the companies say makes more frequent and cost-effective training sessions possible for air, naval and missile defense operators. The release does not name the engine model or give the value of the agreement.

What the Falcon is built to do

Safran describes the Falcon as an affordable, reusable supersonic aerial target designed to support the increasingly sophisticated missile defence training required by armed forces. The release says its architecture also offers potential for broader high-speed missions beyond simulating modern threats, and that its modular architecture and autonomous flight system will allow a single operator to oversee multiple drones simultaneously.

UVAD is developing the Falcon initially for aerial target, threat-replication, and test and evaluation missions, and as a technology foundation for future Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) and advanced autonomous airpower applications, according to the release. UVAD describes the Falcon as Canada’s only supersonic uncrewed aircraft program currently in development.

David Birkett, chief executive of UVAD Technologies, said the company was “particularly pleased” to partner with Safran Power Units, which he called a globally recognised expert in high-performance and affordable turbojet engines.

“Our two companies share a common vision for high-performance, affordable defence systems capable of addressing the challenges of the future, particularly those posed by supersonic threats.”

Ghislaine Doukhan, chief executive of Safran Power Units, said the choice of its engines will make a significant contribution to the Falcon’s capabilities “in terms of supersonic flight, robustness, and cost-effectiveness.”

The two companies behind the program

UVAD Technologies

UVAD is a Canadian aerospace and defence company with operations in Alberta and British Columbia that develops advanced uncrewed aircraft and autonomous aerospace technologies. Its platform family includes the Alpine Swift UAS, which the release calls flight-proven and which serves as a technology pathfinder for the Falcon, and the 6100B Skylance geophysical survey aircraft. The company says its team uses a digitally enabled engineering approach that integrates design, advanced simulation, software development, systems integration and flight testing to move complex aircraft from concept to flight.

The ASTech awards archive lists UVAD as a 2025 finalist for Innovation of the Year for a project titled “Advanced Supersonic UAV Target Development.” That page describes the Alpine Swift as an all-electric fixed-wing UAV and credits UVAD with more than $150 million in contracts from major defence organizations, without naming them.

Safran Power Units

Safran Power Units, a subsidiary of Safran Helicopter Engines based in Toulouse, France, designs and manufactures auxiliary power units (APUs) and starting systems for civil and military aircraft, as well as turbojet engines for missiles and target drones. Safran’s company page says it was founded in 1961 by James Gaston Bayard as Microturbo and has two U.S. affiliates, in Dallas and San Diego.

The company’s turbojets cover a power range of 25 to 600 decanewtons (daN). According to Safran, they are installed in the MBDA Scalp, Exocet Block 3, Saab Dynamics RBS15 and Kongsberg NSM missiles and in the Kratos BQM-167 and BQM-177 target drones. The Falcon adds a reusable supersonic target to that list of applications.

The parent Safran group reports more than 110,000 employees and revenue of 31.3 billion euros in 2025. AirPro News has also covered other target and small-engine programs, including Griffon Aerospace’s Arrowhead threat-training drone and Kratos’s latest small turbojet flight tests.

What comes next

Following what the companies call a successful ground testing campaign in 2026, the program will enter its flight test phase in 2027, which they describe as an essential milestone toward the operational deployment of the Falcon Supersonic UAV. The release does not give a date for first flight, a launch customer or a target date for entry into service.

Neros Technologies, a drone maker based in Torrance, California, has signed a conditional loan commitment of up to $450 million with the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) to expand vertically integrated production of small drones and the components inside them. Neros is adding $165 million of its own equity, which brings the total project size to $615 million, according to the company.

Neros and the Department of War both announced the commitment on November 2, 2026. The department said the financing is intended to support Neros’ domestic manufacturing expansion and reduce reliance on foreign-made components, and that it “directly advances” Executive Order 14307, Unleashing American Drone Dominance. The loan is not yet final: Neros must still satisfy financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence and other requirements before financial close, the department said.

What the financing will pay for

According to the Department of War, OSC financing alongside additional private capital will support Neros’ planned expansion of domestic manufacturing capacity for dual-use small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), ground control systems and critical components such as motors, radios, flight electronics, sensors and batteries.

The department said Neros’ manufacturing facility in Torrance will help onshore the production of complete drone systems and of subcomponents including propulsion motors, flight stacks, radios and thermal sensors. That capacity is meant to serve Neros’ own production and to supply components compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to other U.S. and allied drone manufacturers.

Neros did not name specific drone platforms in its release. It said the commitment covers vertically integrated manufacturing of several drone platforms and the critical components they use, and that by 2028 it plans to produce one million drones per year across long-range strike, close-quarters combat and interceptor capabilities.

Soren Monroe-Anderson, chief executive and co-founder of Neros, tied the commitment to that production target in the company’s release:

“This capital puts Neros on the path to one million drones per year by 2028, and accelerates America toward drone dominance on a global scale.”

Monroe-Anderson said that since the company’s founding, Neros has believed the United States and its allies would need scaled production of military drones “for credible deterrence against adversarial powers,” and that the commitment supports onshoring the supply chains and components the company expects to rely on during extended conflicts.

What OSC and department officials said

David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg, said Neros “has already demonstrated an ability to design, manufacture, and deliver exceptional small unmanned aircraft systems.” He said the investment “will turbocharge Neros’ ability to manufacture drones and components critical for the production of drone systems.”

James R. Shanahan, Senior Managing Director (Investments) at OSC, said winning the drone industrial-base competition requires the United States to manufacture complete systems at scale and at competitive prices for military and non-military applications. “This starts with bolstering the domestic supply of critical components inside all drone systems,” he said. Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said: “I applaud OSC for helping to strengthen the domestic drone supply chain.”

Neros and the OSC before this deal

A drone maker founded in 2023

Neros was founded in 2023 and describes itself as the fastest-growing American manufacturer of small unmanned aerial systems, according to a release dated December 11, 2025, in which it launched the Archer Fiber fiber-optic first-person view (FPV) drone with Kela Technologies. That release said Archer Fiber had been cleared under the BlueUAS program after a component-level audit verifying that no critical parts originate from China.

On August 11, 2026, Neros announced a $250 million Series C round at a $2.5 billion post-money valuation, co-led by Sequoia Capital and the American Strategic Technology Fund. The company said that money would support development and production ramps for two programs: Archer AI, an FPV platform with autonomy features including terminal guidance and GPS-denied position hold, and Bandit, a counter-UAS interceptor drone meant to counter Class 2 and 3 threats, including Shahed-style systems. Neros said both would be deployed in combat theaters by the end of 2026.

In the same release, Neros said it holds major contracts with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, contracts with every component of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and contracts with half a dozen allied countries, and that a UK subsidiary handles its partnerships across Europe.

The lender

The OSC’s first loan through a Department of Defense agreement was a $150 million loan to MP Materials to add heavy rare earth separation capabilities at its processing facility in Mountain Pass, California, according to an OSC release. That release said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, provides OSC with $500 million of credit subsidy funding, creating up to $100 billion in available loan funds for critical minerals production and related industries and projects.

What comes next

The commitment turns into a loan only after Neros completes the steps the OSC has set before financial close, and neither release gave a timeline for that. In the meantime, Neros’ stated milestones are combat deployment of Archer AI and Bandit by the end of 2026 and output of one million drones per year by 2028.

The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has ordered the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) variant of the Airbus U010 Aliaca drone, converting the final seven systems of an existing 34-system contract to the new configuration.

Announced by Airbus on October 29, 2026, the shift to a VTOL platform eliminates the need for catapult launches and net recoveries. This capability allows the French Navy to deploy the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) drones on smaller secondary vessels and operate them in rougher sea conditions.

Operational expansion and technical specifications

The French Navy first operated the fixed-wing Aliaca on an offshore patrol vessel in 2019. The original system required a catapult for launch and an automated net for recovery. While effective, this infrastructure limited the types of vessels that could host the drone and restricted operations in heavy seas.

According to French Navy officials, the VTOL capability significantly expands deployment options. Pre-flight preparation takes only a few minutes, and the drone can launch in sea conditions that would have previously prevented a safe net recovery.

Maxime Caille, Director of the U010 Aliaca programme at Airbus Helicopters, noted that adding vertical lift to the existing drone required a new wing design and modified fuselage. The VTOL variant retains the same core autopilot and data link components as the fixed-wing model.

The U010 Aliaca VTOL has a maximum take-off weight of 25 kilograms, a wingspan of 3.6 meters, and a length of 2.2 meters. The 100% electric version offers up to three hours of endurance and a 50-kilometer data link range. A hybrid variant extends endurance to six hours and the operational radius to 100 kilometers. Both versions carry a gyro-stabilized electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret with a 30x optical zoom and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) for tracking maritime vessels.

Deployment timeline and fleet integration

Following a trial period conducted between 2024 and 2025, the DGA requested that the final seven systems of the original 34-system order be delivered in the VTOL configuration. Airbus has already delivered 27 fixed-wing systems to the DGA.

Deployment of the VTOL variant will begin on French Navy Metropolitan Support and Assistance Vessels (BSAMs) in late 2026. In 2027, the systems will roll out to Overseas Support and Assistance Vessels (BSAOMs).

The French Navy utilizes the U010 Aliaca, designated as the SMDM in military service, for gathering real-time intelligence during maritime security missions, combating illegal fishing, and monitoring trafficking. Real-time video feeds allow operations rooms to vector interception craft and evaluate target threats.

Airbus UAS consolidation and programme background

The Aliaca drone was originally designed by Survey Copter, a French light tactical drone manufacturer that Airbus acquired in 2011. In October 2025, Airbus Helicopters formally took over the management of Survey Copter’s uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) programs, including the Aliaca and Capa-X lines, to streamline the company’s aerospace offerings.

The U010 Aliaca is a Category 2 tactical UAS certified to SAIL III standards under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) methodology.

In early October 2026, Airbus demonstrated the platform’s interoperability during the MDays event. The company executed a collaborative crewed-uncrewed teaming scenario featuring the U010 Aliaca, the U030 Flexrotor, and an Airbus H130 helicopter operating in real-world conditions.

AirPro News analysis

The DGA’s decision to convert the remainder of its Aliaca order to the VTOL configuration highlights a broader naval shift away from catapult-and-net recovery systems. While fixed-wing drones offer superior endurance and range, the deck space and structural requirements for launch and recovery equipment restrict them to larger surface combatants. By integrating vertical lift capabilities into a fixed-wing airframe, Airbus provides the French Navy with the endurance necessary for extended maritime patrol while enabling operations from secondary support vessels. We expect this hybrid aerodynamic approach to become the baseline requirement for future shipborne tactical UAS procurements.