An arrival that will concretize the Pendragon project, led by the Interministerial Agency for Artificial Intelligence in Defense and the Future Combat Command. As General Schill pointed out, this first autonomous combat unit will consist of about twenty ground robots and forty drones. “This unit,” he said, “will be able to receive an order. It will execute its mission and report back like a human unit. It will be able to carry out defensive, offensive, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.”
Missile Antitank The equipment will confirm its combatant dimension: “It will benefit from antitank missiles, fire support systems, anti-drone and anti-aircraft warfare,” he detailed. This will be a true first capacity. At this stage, it should be commanded by about fifteen men including mechanics to maintain these robots. “We have a technological innovation but also a military tactics innovation, so we will also have to learn,” warned General Schill.
“In the end, it is in ground combat that the determination of nations to prevail is inscribed.”
If the French armies missed the drone trend, they do not intend to miss the combat robot trend. This is especially true as it is no longer fiction. Particularly in Ukraine. On April 13, in a video, Volodymyr Zelensky announced that for the first time “an enemy position was taken by unmanned platforms, ground robotic systems, and drones.” According to the Ukrainian president, these robots have already carried out over 22,000 missions, saving the lives of many soldiers.
Evidence of their growing importance, on April 18, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced the order of 25,000 ground robots by 2026, double what Ukraine can deploy today. The goal is ambitious: “100% of front-line logistics” to be provided by unmanned ground vehicles, particularly to ensure supply to soldiers in the most dangerous areas. “The question of ground robotics is exploding. I am absolutely certain that there will be an acceleration,” insists General Schill.
“Not to miss the step” The arrival in 2027 of a unit of ground combat robots, boosted by artificial intelligence, clearly echoes the ongoing reflections in the army. Especially on the thorny issue of renewing the 200 Leclerc tanks due to retire in 2037. While the Franco-German project for the future tank – the MGCS – was supposed to address this, its delay of at least ten years forces military to rethink their strategy.
On April 8, during her hearing in the National Assembly, Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin mentioned “an intermediate tank capability.”
The challenge of this investment is significant. “We must not miss the leap to the next generation,” warns CEMAT. If we are told that the solution is to buy 200 tanks, which will be delivered in 2035 and last for 30 years, we are dead, we miss the mark.” The message is aimed at industrialists because once again, the challenge is to ensure a transition that integrates the latest innovations, starting with artificial intelligence, to ensure that this new tank is not obsolete when it enters service.
