France awards Larinae loitering munition development contract

AID awarded a contract to Nexter Arrowtech, EOS Technologie, and Traak on 16 June to develop a medium-range loitering munition under its and the DGA's Larinae call for projects. (Nexter)

The Agence de l'Innovation de Défense (AID), the French defence innovation agency, awarded a contract to Nexter Arrowtech, EOS Technologie, and Traak on 16 June to develop a medium-range loitering munition under the Larinae call for projects aimed at providing the French Army with such a system armed with an anti-tank warhead, Nexter announced in a press release on 19 June. The company said the first demonstrator would be presented at the end of 2024.

EOS Technologie will provide the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which features an inverted gull wing design; Nexter will produce the explosively formed penetrator; and Traak, the Global Positioning System (GPS-)denied navigation system to make the loitering munition immune to jamming.

The loitering munition will have a range of at least 80 km and an endurance of three hours. It will be equipped with an electro-optic (EO) system able to detect a vehicle at a range of 15 km in daylight and 3 km at night. If not used to attack a target, it will be able to conduct reconnaissance missions. The EO system allows the operator to observe terrain to make the decision to strike, which can be interrupted at any time.

The loitering munition is designed to be easy and safe to recover, arm, and disarm, according to Nexter.