France's top general warns the country is not ready to counter cheap mass-produced drones

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PARIS — France is not yet ready to face cheap, mass-produced threats like drones, the country’s chief of defense staff, Gen. Fabien Mandon, warned Wednesday.

Defending in a financially sustainable manner against low-cost weapons manufactured in bulk, including Iranian-made Shahed drones, has been one of the main challenges for Western armed forces since the war in Ukraine started.

“We have enemies who have developed a large number of low-cost solutions that will wear down our models,” Mandon said at an event organized by France’s main business lobby Medef. “We’re not there yet. It’s nothing catastrophic, we’re still at peace. But we need to make this move.”

NATO arsenals have long been composed of high-tech, sophisticated missiles worth several million dollars each, which land forces, navies and warplanes have been firing against unmanned aerial vehicles worth just tens of thousands of dollars. Now, the main goal is to significantly reduce the so-called cost per kill, meaning how much money has been spent to neutralize a threat.

Most recently, the French air force used costly missiles against cheap Iranian drones sent toward Gulf countries.

French legacy arms companies such as MBDA, as well as startups including Alta Ares and Harmattan AI, are working on lower-cost, mass-producible weapons to counter such threats.

“Our defensive weapons are not produced in sufficient quantities to stop these waves of saturation,” the French general said. He added that he was working to accelerate the French armed forces’ use of drones.

Defense companies “have to be hungry and adaptable in a fast-paced world, where our competitors adapt quickly,” Mandon told the audience.