Sea

France takes a low-cost kamikaze drone boat from concept to sea trials in six months

France’s procurement agency DGA built SMOKERS, an explosive-carrying uncrewed surface vessel with a fiberglass hull and outboard motor, aiming for a unit cost of a few tens of thousands of euros and speeds near 40 knots. Four sea-trial campaigns are complete, and Navy crews operated three boats in the WildFire 2026 exercise. Production funding is not settled, though talks on industrialization have begun.

Illustration of a small uncrewed speedboat racing across the sea with a warship on the horizon

Illustration: Autonomy Wire (AI-generated)

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