France’s DGA has conducted flight trials releasing 72 inert drone mock-ups from an Airbus A400M to validate simulations and aircraft safety.

In parallel, MBDA showcased a “Generic Airdropped Munition Pallet” concept beside a French A400M at Paris, depicting standardized palletized loads combining cruise missiles, Mistral surface-to-air missiles, and loitering munitions. A collaboration between French defense group Thales and Swiss startup Destinus was recently signed, with aims to develop palletized, airdroppable kamikaze drones designed for mass deployment.

Airbus has already used the A400M as a drone launch testbed. After an initial release in February 2022 using a demonstrator derived from the Do-DT25, a more complex Remote Carrier trial followed in December 2022 using a new launch mechanism developed in roughly six months.