It is a unique school program in France at the moment. Eleven students from the Louise Weiss high school in Sainte-Marie-aux-mines (Haut-Rhin) are the first to inaugurate a professional baccalaureate with a drone option.
By including a drone option in this Ciel professional baccalaureate (Cybersecurity, computer science and networks, electronics), “the idea was to create an innovative program that does not exist anywhere else at the moment by using the drone as a tool,” explained François Ginoux, the principal of the high school, to AFP.
“These are skills that ‘interest’ the army,” explained Pascal Fischer, who commands the Regional Recruitment Center of the Air Force. “We need drones for surveillance and security of military sites, and trained individuals capable of ‘implementing countermeasures’ against hostile drones,” he continued.
The school has partnered with the air and space army. Military instructors have taught drone piloting classes to the students and have shown them around air bases in the region. Throughout the year, the eleven students – including only one girl – also learn how to maneuver between markers, improve their skills in assembling and disassembling drones from kits, and engage in more scientific work on lift and speed.
With what future in mind? For example, 17-year-old Nolan is considering a military career and hopes that his knowledge in drone technology will be “an added bonus, a unique advantage that others may not necessarily have.” While using a drone as a weapon is “not the goal,” the teenager imagines using it for “reconnaissance missions” or conducting reconnaissance operations.
The Army had 3,000 drones at the beginning of the year, and it will have 15,000 by the end of 2026. “Our effort is to keep up with technology and have every soldier be a drone operator,” emphasized General Philippe de Montenon, commanding the terrestrial operational force, at the end of April during the large military exercise Orion 26.
