At the Bourget Fair, drones push the limits of aeronautics

Whether they serve civilians or soldiers, for enthusiasts or novices, for several years, drones have been everywhere. And yet, this is only the beginning, according to professionals in the sector.

Everyone got started! For aeronautical professionals, this 2025 edition of the International Aeronautical and Bourget Espace Fair (June 16-22) looks like a gigantic drone fair. Thus, the company DELAIR which still produced small drones of monitoring of forest fires 10 years ago and which, now, markets attack drones. They were recently delivered to the Ukrainians, for example.

One of their latest born: the Oskar, in polystyrene, with a total weight of 2.3kg, including 500 grams of military load. You can launch it by hand, praises the company. “”We have had very positive feedback from users in Ukraine, in fact it has been used since the beginning of the year. Also ideas for improvement because in the Ukrainian context, things are changing very quickly and we learn permanently“, According to Bastien Mancini, boss of Delair.

The company, whose headquarters are in Toulouse, mainly dreams of returning to Du Civil. “”No doubt that the challenges of a conflict like Ukraine have accelerated technological ruptures. It will spread in the civil world, so we need to make products that meet the needs of the civil market“, Underlines the engineer and co-founder of the company.

Historical Defense electronics specialists, such as Thales, have also started there, notably signing partnerships with dronists like French Turgis & Gaillard in recent days or the American Skydweller. “”They are provided with the drone’s payload in the form of a radar called the Air Master. It is boosted with artificial intelligence to optimize the recognitions that are made by the radar signal “Specifies Eric Lenseigne Responsible Drones at Thalès.

The Turgis drone can thus operate this radar surveillance for more than 20 hours, when that of Skydweler can stay in the air … weeks or even months, thanks to a source of solar energy.

Third example: a former specialist in air fireworks, Michel Lallement, has developed a flying drone practically like a bird, the Beluga. “”It is a flexible wing drone, a flying wing with an engine, with a rear -rear filling, so as to multiply by three takeoff speed“.

Like a bird that deploys or folds its tail feathers to increase its lift, the machine is self -piloted, capable of carrying out the most complex missions. Its main quality is its lightness. “”Normally, for an airplane, a helicopter, we speak of a maximum third party of payload. We are more than half of payload compared to the total mass that takes off. It is air logistics to open up complicated areasS “, specifies the specialist of Flying Robots.

The Beluga has already successfully completed some humanitarian aid delivery missions in the middle of a desert, where no helicopter could have gone.