Drones centre stage as Paris Airshow begins amid backdrop of global conflict

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00:00Now it's day two of the Paris Air Show.

00:03France 24's James André is covering the event for us at Le Bourget, and we can go across to him now.

00:07James, good afternoon.

00:09This air show taking place as the war in Ukraine continues for over three years now,

00:14and we also have the situation in the Middle East.

00:17What can you tell us about the new drone technology you're seeing at the air show?

00:25Yes, absolutely.

00:26As you're saying, drones have become absolutely crucial in modern warfare,

00:29and indeed we're having some announcements here at the air show,

00:33one of which, and this is quite an important one, you can see it right behind me.

00:37There is the Italian manufacturer Leonardo who is teaming up with Baykar,

00:41which is a Turkish manufacturer, to create a new company called LBA

00:48that will be producing some unmanned aircraft.

00:51Now we're talking here about combat drones,

00:54so these are the larger ones that can carry missiles and weapons

00:58and indeed return to base.

01:00Now these have been quite crucial during the first phases of the war in Ukraine

01:04with the Bayraktar, which are built by this Turkish company that had been bought by the Ukrainians

01:09and were used against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea

01:12and also against that column of tanks that were advancing towards Kyiv.

01:16If you remember, that was back in March 2022.

01:19Well, they're teaming up to create a new giant.

01:21Now that's one type of drone, but what we are seeing really emerge here

01:25is a new generation of smaller, lighter drones,

01:28what they call basically kamikaze drones.

01:32I went to see one of the stands.

01:34Some of them are now the size you can put them into a backpack.

01:38I was being showed, for example, a prototype that should soon come into production

01:42that has been actually distinguished by the French army.

01:44It's built by the Swiss and it is a drone that can basically take off vertically,

01:51then pivot, become a little plane, if you will, and fly up to 200 kilometers per hour.

01:57So we're seeing that kind of hardware now appear here on this trade fair.

02:02Also what we see on our integrated systems,

02:04such as a larger drone that can actually carry smaller ones

02:08that can be deployed on the battlefield.

02:11Now there are two main revolutions coming up.

02:13One is artificial intelligence for these small drones,

02:20these who are more like, if you like, automated or, you know, ammunition,

02:26that can, loatering drones, that can absolutely operate, you know,

02:32by themselves if they get cut off from their operator.

02:35This is the upcoming revolution in which basically the fighters will designate

02:40what they call a kill box,

02:42and the drone will be able to strike any actual target inside that defined kill box.

02:47Now that, of course, asks questions as to will that be legal under international law.

02:52Another novelty is indeed what you call autonomous drones.

02:56These are drones that can take off, fly by themselves,

02:59and that can be associated together to form a group,

03:02a fighting group under the control of one pilot in a fighter jet.

03:05For example, some of those are displayed here.

03:08That, again, poses the question of automated and artificial intelligence weapons

03:15that can potentially, for now it's not the case,

03:17but could in the future fire by themselves.

03:21Sounds worrying, James.

03:22I want to ask you about any orders for European planemaker Airbus.

03:27Airbus, have they been bagging in the orders?

03:33Yes, absolutely.

03:34It's been a pretty good two days for Airbus.

03:37Of course, Bourget is all about, you know, business,

03:40and indeed, Airbus has managed to sign over 200 firm contracts for aircraft here

03:48at Le Bourget Airshow since it has started.

03:52Those include 100 A321s for Vietjet, that is a Vietnamese company.

04:00Also, 40 for Lotte Polish carrier.

04:03Those are A220s.

04:05Now, that's a newer, smaller aircraft produced by Airbus.

04:09And then there's Riyadh Air, the Saudi Arabian carrier

04:13that has placed an order for 25 A350-1000s.

04:19Now, those are planes that we've seen being demonstrated here in the sky behind me.

04:23These are longer versions of the A350

04:27that are very efficient planes when it comes to fuel consumptions.

04:31So, they're being bought.

04:32Now, we do not know what's happening on the front of Boeing,

04:35which is the other, you know, the main competitor for Airbus.

04:40Boeing is not going to be announcing the contracts it is signing here

04:43at the Paris Airshow simply because they feel that that would be disrespectful

04:48to the families mourning the people who were killed in the crash of the 787

04:53just days ago in Ahmedabad, India.

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