With its eight-meter wingspan, it looks like two drops of water like a small passenger plane, but on board, no pilot or passengers. This drone was designed and developed by CLS, a subsidiary of the National Center for Space Studies, specializing since 1986 in Earth observation and monitoring solutions. A drone that carries a liferaft in its belly, which it can drop at sea in the event of a shipwreck, and which can accommodate up to eight people. A world first.

A project initiated in 2018 in collaboration with the European Union with which the company has just signed a contract: “This was a need given that the European Maritime Safety Agency’s mission is to help Member States in their rescue missions at sea in the event of accidents or the like. So we have a 24-hour team that can intervene and send the drone to the area very quickly to save people “, explains Nadia Maaref, director of maritime safety at CLS.

To win this contract with Brussels, for a period of four years and an amount of 30 million euros, it was necessary to be able to provide a rapid response in the event of a shipwreck. The last six months have made it possible to perfect the system and win the contract. “We have improved the autonomy and endurance of the drone to be able to carry out increasingly long missions, up to 650 km from the coast, or 1300 km there and back; and we have improved all the sensors to see day and night“, explains Stéphanie Limouzin, Deputy Director General of CLS.

The company has four sea rescue drones operational around the clock and piloted from the CLS control room in Toulouse.