French drone makers call for more state spending as budget talks drag on

By Florence ‌Loeve

PARIS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - France’s drone sector could fall further behind global competitors ‍if ‌the government does not increase funding for procurement, said an industry body, calling next ⁠year's plans for investment in the ‌sector insufficient.

One of Europe's biggest defence spenders, France is trying to promote its drone manufacturers and dozens of French companies met with military and political officials accompanying Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy ⁠on a trip to Paris last month in a bid to sign new orders.

French Prime Minister Sebastien ​Lecornu told parliament last week that scaling up drone ‌production is one of the country's ⁠top priorities and that the 2026 draft defence budget would include a 150 million euro ($175.6 million) investment in the sector.

While more than in previous years, it ​is still not enough to secure industrial sovereignty, said Antoine Level, president of the French Drone Association (ADIF), which represents manufacturers, such as Delair and Parrot .

The industry group had asked the government for 250 million euros in annual investment, including 170 million ​euros ‍in acquisitions by the state ​and public procurement, Level told Reuters.

Without this amount, France risks falling behind other countries, Level said, pointing to efforts from other nations, such as Britain, which said in October that it had invested 600 million pounds ($799 million) to deliver more than 85,000 drones to Ukraine in the first half of 2025.

That followed $1 billion in funding for ⁠the "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" programme, Washington announced in June.

It also remains uncertain whether France will even manage to adopt its ​2026 budget by the end of the year. 

However, French drone makers are hoping to benefit from some of an additional 3.5 billion euros in defence spending announced by President Emmanuel Macron in July and defence budget ‌talks to update the military programming law and allocate these resources, planned by the government in early 2026. 

($1 = 0.8540 euros)

($1 = 0.7510 pounds)

(Reporting by Florence LoeveEditing by Tomasz Janowski)