The French Navy has successfully intercepted and neutralised a UAV for the first time during operations in the Red Sea, utilising an advanced anti-drone jamming system. This milestone was achieved in October by a FREMM frigate equipped with newly integrated jamming technology, according to statements from senior French Navy officials during the Euronaval 2024 exhibition last month.

Neptune and MAJES DB6 were the systems used, both developed by MC2 Technologies. Specialising in anti-drone and electronic warfare, MC2 designed Neptune as a high-power GNSS jammer for simulating contested environments (A2/AD) under navigation warfare conditions. MAJES DB6, meanwhile, is an upgraded version of a counter-UAS jammer initially deployed during the Paris 2024 Olympics as part of the PARADE anti-drone solution.

Rear Admiral David Desfougères, Head of Planning and Programs for the French Navy, commented “we are working a lot on this with the DGA and different industrials. We succeeded to destroy a UAV a few days ago with a brand new system, which we trained with one month ago during Wildfire exercise. This system was good enough to be quickly implemented onboard the ship and this ship departed for a mission with this system. […] We’ve got some very good ships […] but we need to upgrade these frigates with new generation of equipment such as countermeasures, counter-UAV system, new artillery ammunition. We work on how we can improve on the basis of all frigates in order to face new generation of threats.”

MAJES and Neptune are part of a broader suite of sensor and weapon systems recently installed on French naval surface combatants to enhance their operational capabilities. Additional upgrades include the Paseo XLR EO/IR system and the SkyJacker C-UAS solution, both developed by Safran. These enhancements were implemented as urgent operational measures, based on initial feedback from French forces operating in the Red Sea.

This milestone is particularly noteworthy given that Neptune and MAJES had never been tested in a naval environment, or designed for such use, prior to the Wildfire exercise – a new French Navy initiative that focuses on experimenting with counter-UAS (C-UAS) solutions at sea.

Building on the Wildfire exercise, the French Navy took a bold step by deploying these systems operationally aboard a vessel heading to the Red Sea, bypassing the typical qualification and testing phases. The Red Sea deployments highlight the French Navy’s rapid adaptation to evolving threats, demonstrating agility in testing and fielding advanced technologies as required.

Image Credit: EMASoH.