Greece Orders Four New Patroller Unmanned Aerial Vehicles From French Company Safran
The Hellenic Armed Forces has signed a contract to procure four new Patroller Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from the French company Safran through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). The agreement was signed by Franck Saudo, CEO of Safran Electronics & Defense, and Stacy Cummings, General Manager of NSPA, during the Paris Air Show.
According to the NSPA’s statement, this contract will allow the Hellenic Armed Forces to perform a wide range of surveillance tasks, from supporting ground forces to maritime and border monitoring. Safran Electronics & Defense, on the other hand, stated that Patroller Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will supplement the Hellenic Armed Forces’ unmanned aerial vehicle fleet by joining the country’s existing Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicles.
Greece currently operates 16 Sperwer-A unmanned aerial vehicles in its inventory, which it purchased in 2006 from the French company Sagem (now SAFRAN). In addition, the Hellenic Armed Forces also operates Heron UAVs leased from Israel. Currently, Greece, which does not have an armed drone, hosts US unarmed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles at the Larisa airbase and is awaiting delivery of Orbiter 3 type unmanned aerial vehicles that it recently purchased from Israel-based Aeronautics.
Patroller is a French medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle developed and manufactured by Safran Electronics & Defense (formerly SAGEM) to perform intelligence, surveillance, and targeting missions. Patroller was first unveiled at the Paris Air Show in 2009 and flew for the first time later that month. The system, which has been in development since then, was chosen by the French Armed Forces for the Tactical Drone System (SDT) program in 2016. Patroller was also the first tactical unmanned aerial vehicle system to be officially approved in 2023 under NATO airworthiness standard STANAG 4671, applicable to fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles weighing more than 150 kilograms.
For ground surveillance missions, Patroller is outfitted with a high-resolution Euroflir 410 EO/IR pod in addition to a COMINT (COMmunication INTelligence) sensor or a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) detecting moving targets (MTI). Patroller helps to protect troops in the field based on this configuration. Both conducting electronic warfare (EW) operations and providing data on tactical situations. It is equipped with a multimode surveillance radar for marine surveillance missions, allowing for the long-range detection of maritime activity over a large zone. This version also includes an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to classify ships. The Euroflir 410 is used for the final identification.
The drone, which is powered by a Rotax 914F engine, can operate for 15 hours at an altitude of 16,000 feet and a speed of 180 kilometers. Patroller, with a payload capacity of 210 kg, can operate 180 km away from the ground station with uninterrupted telemetry transmission and can fly up to 1,000 km using integrated satellite navigation.