French carmaker Renault to produce long-range drones for French forces

PARIS — French carmaker Renault will start manufacturing long-range strike drones under a contract with the country’s Directorate General for Armament, and in partnership with local defense contractor Turgis Gaillard.

Renault confirmed the plans after French trade publication L’Usine Nouvelle reported the carmaker will produce the drones at its factories in Le Mans and Cléon, west of Paris, in a contract that could be worth as much as €1 billion (US$1.2 billion) over 10 years. Renault declined to confirm details on the production sites and the value of the contract.

“We were contacted a few months ago by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces about a project to develop a French drone industry,” Fabrice Cambolive, Renault’s chief growth officer, said in an interview on BFM TV on Tuesday. “We were contacted for our industrial, production, and design expertise. This project is currently underway.”

Renault will produce long-range remotely guided munitions similar to Iran’s Shahed drone that can also be used for intelligence gathering and observation, according to L’Usine Nouvelle. Both Russia and Ukraine are increasingly using such cheap long-range drones for deep strikes and to overwhelm air defenses.

The drone chassis will be manufactured in Le Mans, while the site in Cléon will produce the engines, BFM reported. The goal is to produce as many as 600 of the long-range drones a month, according to BFM.

Then-Armed Forces Minister Sebastian Lecornu in June last year floated plans to work with an automotive company to manufacture drones, and Renault told employees in September the carmaker had been approached by the Armed Forces Ministry to participate in defense projects, according to French media reports.

Whereas Europe’s defense industry has typically focused on complex systems built in low volumes, often for national clients, carmakers specialize in mass production with tight quality control and cost discipline to compete in global markets.

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month warned the country’s defense industry to produce faster and more efficiently, lest the armed forces turn to suppliers elsewhere in Europe.

Macron has repeatedly called for the French defense industry to move to what the president refers to as a “war economy.”

“Renault Group has sought-after expertise in designing, industrializing and mass-producing high-tech objects while controlling quality, costs and deadlines,” the company said in an emailed statement. “Today, this approach is taking shape in the field of drones with a project in partnership with Turgis Gaillard and under the aegis of the DGA.”

Renault, known for its slogan “Créateur d’automobiles,” is a rare example of a major European automaker moving directly into weapons manufacturing, and comes as European governments are exploring how to quickly scale up arms production. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has repeatedly warned that Russia, with its economy geared for war, is outpacing Western weapons production.

Germany’s defense industry has been calling to convert automotive capacity to military production, and defense firm Rheinmetall last year repurposed two automotive-parts plants to mainly focus on manufacturing military goods.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国汽车制造商雷诺将根据与法国军备总局签订的合同，并与当地国防承包商图尔吉斯·盖拉尔合作，开始生产远程攻击无人机。

法国行业刊物《新工厂》（L'Usine Nouvelle）报道称，雷诺将在其位于勒芒和巴黎西部克莱昂的工厂生产无人机，合同金额可能高达10亿欧元（约合12亿美元），为期10年。雷诺随后证实了这一计划。但雷诺拒绝透露生产地点和合同金额的具体细节。

雷诺首席增长官法布里斯·坎博利夫周二在接受BFM电视台采访时表示：“几个月前，法国武装部队部联系我们，洽谈一项发展法国无人机产业的项目。他们看中的是我们拥有工业、生产和设计方面的专业知识。目前，该项目正在进行中。”

据《新工厂报》（L'Usine Nouvelle）报道，雷诺将生产类似于伊朗“沙赫德”（Shahed）无人机的远程遥控制导武器，该武器也可用于情报收集和侦察。俄罗斯和乌克兰都在越来越多地使用这种廉价的远程无人机进行纵深打击和突破防空系统。

据BFM报道，无人机机身将在勒芒生产，而发动机将在克莱昂的工厂生产。BFM表示，目标是每月生产多达600架远程无人机。

据法国媒体报道，去年 6 月，时任武装部队部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努提出了与一家汽车公司合作制造无人机的计划；同年 9 月，雷诺汽车公司告诉员工，武装部队部已与该公司接洽，邀请其参与国防项目。

欧洲国防工业通常专注于小批量生产的复杂系统，通常服务于国内客户，而汽车制造商则专注于大规模生产，并严格控制质量和成本，以在全球市场中竞争。

法国总统马克龙本月早些时候警告该国国防工业，必须加快生产速度、提高生产效率，否则军队将转向欧洲其他地区的供应商。

马克龙多次呼吁法国国防工业转向他所说的“战时经济”。

雷诺集团在一份电子邮件声明中表示：“雷诺集团在设计、工业化和大规模生产高科技产品方面拥有备受推崇的专业技术，同时还能有效控制质量、成本和工期。如今，这种理念正通过与图尔吉斯·盖拉尔（Turgis Gaillard）合作、并在法国国防采购局（DGA）的支持下开展的无人机项目，在无人机领域得以体现。”

雷诺汽车以“汽车创造者”（Créateur d'automobiles）为口号，是欧洲大型汽车制造商直接涉足武器制造领域的罕见案例。与此同时，欧洲各国政府正在探索如何迅速扩大武器生产规模。北约秘书长马克·吕特曾多次警告，俄罗斯的经济以战争为导向，其武器生产速度正在超越西方。

德国国防工业一直呼吁将汽车产能转为军事生产，国防公司莱茵金属去年已将两家汽车零部件工厂改造为主要生产军用产品。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。