Parrot chosen by the Directorate General of Armament (DGA) for the supply of ANAFI USA micro-drones

Parrot, the leading European group of micro-drones, was chosen by the DGA to supply its ANAFI USA micro-drone with a view to equipping the 3 French armies (Air, Sea and Land), as part of its call for offer launched last February.

This success is the result of two years of work to develop, secure and produce a micro-drone specifically designed to meet the needs of the armed forces. The ANAFI USA drone, specially adapted for the Armed Forces around the world, offers soldiers a 500g micro-quadricopter drone with day and night observation capabilities. With 32 minutes of flight, it has the best performance in its class. The 5-year framework contract covers several hundred drone systems, additional equipment, the development of adaptations and the training of reference pilots. The first systems will be delivered in the coming months. ANAFI USA makes it possible to extend the reconnaissance capabilities of French forces.

Thanks to its powerful 32x zoom, articulated around two 4K 21 megapixel cameras, the detection of human-sized targets is possible up to 2 km away with an accuracy of 13 cm of detail. The zoom images are merged with those obtained by the FLIR Boson thermal camera. The latter makes it possible to identify hot spots day and night. Deployable in 55 seconds, it is also very discreet: with a sound signature of 79 dB at a distance of 1 m, it is inaudible from 130 m.

Thanks to the software development partnerships implemented by Parrot with leading players in their fields, users can also benefit from the growing ecosystem of compatible software. These make it possible, for example, to manage drone fleets in real time (Skyward, A Verizon company, DroneSense), to generate visible and thermal photos / videos (Survae) and tactical maps (Pix4Dreact). R&D services are also planned to adapt ANAFI USA to the needs of the French armies.

ANAFI USA is a revolution for Defense organizations, resulting from the expertise developed by Parrot for the general public. These now seek to quickly make available to their people recent technologies, with proven performance, at a controlled cost.

The technology of the ANAFI platform, based on the bank of mobile telephony components, reaches a level of reliability reinforced by the hundreds of thousands of flight hours of consumer drones. ANAFI USA's technological choices offer an acquisition cost and performance that is beyond comparison with those of products traditionally developed for the armed forces.

ANAFI USA has also met the requirements of the DGA in terms of security. Securing the link, securing data, securing the firmware: it meets the most demanding cybersecurity standards. A digital signature protects against malicious attempts to modify the drone's software.

The drone makes it possible to record mission data only on the ground segment, and not in the air vector, then to extract them for analysis, by physical connection. The drone has a secure WPA2 connection and open protocols that ensure confidence in the interoperability of recorded data for sensitive missions.

ANAFI USA is entirely developed in France and produced in the United States. No essential components are produced in China. The drone and its piloting application work without requiring Internet access.

Data processing is subject to the strictest standards of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). All the data of the drone is entirely in the user's control. When shared, data is stored on secure servers in Europe.

The FreeFlight 6 pilot application, audited by the private company Bishop Fox, renowned worldwide for its offensive security services, also confirms the security offered to users and the protection of their data.

ANAFI USA has also been selected by partner organizations of the US federal government as part of the Blue sUAS project. It is the only drone of a non-American company to be marketed on the purchasing platform of the army, government agencies and American security forces: the “GSA Schedule”. It is already ordered and used by many police, federal agencies, and firefighters in the United States and other countries around the world.

The Parrot prototype was also a finalist in the first installment of the US Department of Defense SRR program. This will continue to be independently assessed by the government as part of the success measures of the “Other Transaction Agreement” (OTA). The US government will provide separate notification to allow other DoD or federal government agencies to place any future orders.

Parrot, pioneer and leader in the drone industry in Europe, with R&D in Paris of 200 engineers, is delighted to have been selected by the DGA. The Group, which relies on a total of over 350 engineers with its subsidiaries in Europe and the United States, considers the Defense and Security market to be one of the most promising.

The Parrot Group's know-how revolves mainly around professional micro-drones with the Parrot brand, flying wings dedicated to professionals to carry out longer missions (senseFly) and software solutions for analysis and image measurements. (Pix4D) suitable for a large number of drones of all brands.

Beyond Defense and Security, the other fields of application of the Parrot Group are the management and inspection of energy and communication infrastructures (high voltage lines, cellular network towers, solar farms, nuclear power plants and wind turbines, mines and quarries), management and monitoring of construction sites (real estate, roads, rails, engineering structures), precision agriculture (crop health, hydrometry, pest control).

Henri Seydoux, Chairman and CEO, founder and main shareholder of Parrot concludes: “We are very proud to have won this call for tenders from the DGA and to continue to work on new opportunities with the United States. It is the fruit of the meticulous work accomplished by our teams in France for more than 2 years, and that of 10 years of expertise. By taking the gamble of developing the ANAFI platform, designed for the general public, robust for the needs of professionals, and secure for the requirements of the armed forces, we have taken an important step for the Group. In today's world, Parrot is convinced that it is key for security forces and armies to rely on powerful, highly secure high-tech equipment. ".