French Army is to receive 50 PROTEUS anti-drone systems. Defence against UAVs is no longer science-fiction
Last year, developed by the French Army Technical Section (STAT) in response to an operational emergency, the ARLAD system (adaptation réactive pour la lutte antidrone – reactive adaptation to combat drones) began to be deployed by the All-Arms Anti-Aircraft Training Centre (LATTA) of the 17th Artillery Group. Designed to respond to an operational emergency, the ARLAD anti-drone system, integrated into the VAB armoured vehicle, required four years of development by the French Army’s Technical Section (STAT) before being put into service. Things are moving faster now.
With the increasing popularity of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), the number of drone-related incidents has risen. Innovative solutions that detect, track, identify and mitigate the activities of unauthorised or malicious UAS fill an important safety gap in the lower airspace. Drones have changed the course of modern warfare, and the constantly evolving technology and capabilities of these tools pose a significant threat to military installations, equipment and personnel. „Attacks using swarms of armed, unmanned air systems is no longer just science fiction,“ said Emmanuel Chiva, director of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) last November, in relation to the naval operations in the Red and Black seas – and the threat is to be answered by land forces as well.
Development of the Proteus anti-drone system
Mounted on a VAB armoured vehicle, the ARLAD system comprises a 12.7mm machine gun, an airbust capability based on a 40mm grenade launcher, and a radar capable of detecting a mini-UAV from a distance of 2,500 metres. In total, only twelve were produced. However, in view of the growing threat from FPV (First Person View) drones and other remotely operated munitions, STAT was quick to develop another device to complement the ARLAD. In fact, it took just a few weeks to develop the first standard of the Proteus anti-drone system.
At a hearing in the French Senate last November, the army’s Chief of Staff, General Pierre Schill, spoke briefly about the development of Proteus, highlighting the capacity of his troops to innovate: „In its workshops, the French army has launched the reuse of old 20 mm guns on carriages for anti-drone warfare, adding an optronic sight, a weather station and a computer with a layer of artificial intelligence in cooperation with AMIAD (Ministerial Agency for Artificial Intelligence in Defence).“
At the French President’s wishes to the Armed Forces on 20 January, STAT explained that its artillery group had successfully moved in four months from design to demonstration to deployment, with the first delivery of this Proteus system. STAT added: „The aim of this development is twofold: to provide a rapid operational response while anticipating developments on the modern battlefield.“
The Proteus Standard 1 will initially be delivered to the 35th Parachute Artillery Regiment and used to train instructors from the 17th Artillery Group. In January, STAT announced that standard 2 of the Proteus system was being developed with the support of the French Defence Artificial Intelligence Agency (AMIAD). The aim was to integrate artificial intelligence algorithms to improve detection capability and anticipate the trajectory of a hostile drone in order to determine the best time to destroy it.
And old 20mm gun serves its new purpose well
STAT’s idea was to combine the old 20mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on a 53T2 towed carriage with a SANDRA thermal camera (Weapon System Alternating Night and Day Vision for Aircraft Search) and a computer. The whole system is installed on a TRM 2000 truck. Produced in the 1970s by GIAT, the 53T2 gun mounted on a towed carriage has a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute and a range of 1,500 metres against aerial targets. The development of this Standard 2 is about to reach a new milestone. The French Defence Procurement Agency has launched a competitive tender procedure for the industrialisation, supply and assembly of hardware kits for a state-designed sighting aid system for a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun.
„The contract consists in particular of industrialising the mechanical and electrical integration and production of the hardware kits for this sighting aid system, comprising various sensors (including day/infrared optronics), a digital computer adapted to AI algorithms and Human-Machine Interface (HMI), supplying these kits and ensuring their assembly on the gun mounts“, explains the DGA. The aim is to be able to deliver the first 6 units quickly (in around 3 months), with the remainder, up to a total of 50, to be delivered before the end of 2026. The PROTEUS system is promising, according to STAT. According to the evaluations it has carried out, the expected performance gain is at least 30 % compared with similar standard equipment.
As a complement to the VAB ARLAD, the PROTEUS system was developed much more quickly, taking only a few weeks for STAT to go from design to demonstration and delivery of the first standard to the 35th Parachute Artillery Regiment. According to the French Army, the aim of this development is twofold: to provide a rapid operational response while anticipating developments on the modern battlefield.
Other subjects are also being looked at by the 17th Artillery Group, such as the C-UAS capabilities for dismounted combatants. The use of portable jammers is being explored, as well as the use of 12-gauge pump-action shotguns with adapted ammunition as part of a new-generation LATTA, the coupling in LATTA of individual weapons and on-board weapons (with the first training sessions to come mixing driving and firing with the on-board weapons of the VBCI or Serval), passive sensors, passive means of defence such as nets, etc. This will also be the case for the reinforcement of C-UAS resources in the face of swarms of UAVs and FPV drones.
