Aura Aero has unveiled its ENBATA unmanned air system, exhibiting a mock-up of the design at the Paris air show.

Company president Jeremy Caussade says: “Aura Aero is honoured to have been selected by the French Ministry of Defence and the DGA [defence procurement agency], who are supporting the first stage of prototype development, with the aim of flying by the end of 2026.”

A medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) design, the ENBATA is an ITAR-free offering which the company has developed “in collaboration with established industrial partners” including Safran and Thales.

“Designed around digital flight controls, it can perform long-range strategic intelligence, armed reconnaissance, electronic warfare, maritime surveillance, communication relay, and anti-drone operations,” Aura Aero says.

Maximum take-off weight is 2,000kg (4,410lb), including a payload of up to 1,000kg, and autonomous mission endurance is cited as being up to 55h.

“The global context is pushing us to move quickly, with real defence needs, and in France we have all the tools and technologies to meet them”, Caussade says.

The developer is pursuing dual certification via military aviation authorities and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). “This unique approach will soon be formalised in a pre-application contract currently being finalised with EASA, paving the way for operations in civil airspace,” it says.

Potential non-military applications could include forest fire monitoring, search and rescue, and surveillance tasks.

The DGA signed agreements with five companies at Le Bourget “to support the production of MALE demonstrators from 2026”. In addition to Aura Aero, the other recipients were Daher, FLY-R, SE Aviation and Turgis Gaillard.