{
  "id": 3568185,
  "title": "France is not ready to face cheap drones yet, warns top general",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/france-is-not-ready-to-face-cheap-drones-yet-warns-top-general",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-26T17:06:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Politico EU",
    "slug": "politico-eu",
    "url": "https://www.politico.eu/article/france-not-ready-cheap-drones-threats-warns-top-general/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Paris — The chief of France's defense staff, General Fabien Mandon, cautioned on Wednesday that the country is not prepared to handle cheap, mass-produced threats such as drones. Speaking at an event organized by France's primary business lobby Medef, General Mandon highlighted the challenge of defending in a financially sustainable way against low-cost weapons, including Iranian-made Shahed drones, which have been proliferating due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. \"We have enemies who have developed a large number of low-cost solutions that will wear down our models,\" Mandon stated. \"We're not there yet. It's nothing catastrophic, we're still at peace. But we need to make this move.\" Western armed forces have traditionally relied on high-tech, sophisticated missiles priced in the millions to combat unmanned aerial vehicles costing just tens of thousands of dollars. The primary objective now is to significantly reduce the cost per kill, which refers to the amount spent to neutralize a threat. Recently, the French air force employed expensive missiles to target inexpensive Iranian drones en route to Gulf countries. French defense giants like MBDA, as well as startups such as Alta Ares and Harmattan AI, are developing lower-cost, mass-producible weapons to counter such threats. General Mandon emphasized that the French armed forces lack sufficient quantities of defensive weapons to stop these waves of saturation. He also mentioned his efforts to expedite the use of drones by the French military. Defense companies must be \"hungry and adaptable in a fast-paced world, where our competitors adapt quickly,\" Mandon advised the audience.",
  "summary": "The French defense industry is not producing low-cost weapons at scale yet, said Gen. Fabien Mandon.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}