Ten Times the Rate: A German Auto Supplier Will Build Loitering Munitions for France

German automotive supplier Schaeffler will assemble a new batch of loitering munitions ordered by France from the French drone maker Delair and the Franco-German group KNDS, with the aim of increasing production rates tenfold. According to an AFP report published by La Gazette France on October 13, 2026, the order reflects an industrial model now spreading across France, Germany and the United States: using the mass-production capacity of the auto industry to build drones in volume and at lower cost.

The French defense procurement agency (DGA) awarded Delair-KNDS the new lot of MX-10 Damocles under a contract signed in July 2024. Deliveries of the first tranche, for the French Army and Navy, began in December 2025. “A few hundred” have been delivered so far and the new order covers “a few hundred” more, to be delivered in less than a year. The companies did not disclose contract values, but said they have received first export orders whose customers they cannot yet name (La Gazette France).

The Damocles is a small one-way attack drone with a 10-kilometer range and a 500-gram warhead, designed against light armor and small naval craft. Delair builds the air vehicle and KNDS the warhead. Delair chief executive Bastien Mancini told AFP the system already operates in environments where GPS and radio links are jammed, and that software updates are intended to keep it from becoming obsolete (La Gazette France).

The production jump is the core of the story. From November, output will rise from 10 to 100 units a day at an undisclosed Schaeffler plant in France. Delair signed an agreement in June with the family-owned bearings and components maker to set up a line for both the Damocles and the Aspik interceptor drone, an investment backed by Delair with DGA participation. Schaeffler’s Europe chief, Rémy Triouleyre, framed the company’s role as series assembly, industrial scale-up and component supply in support of “a resilient European defense industry” (La Gazette France).

Schaeffler is not alone. Renault awaits DGA orders to begin series production of the Chorus drone for Turgis Gaillard at Le Mans and the Toutatis for Thales. Valeo is to start producing electric motors in France for Harmattan AI drones in early 2027, and Forvia plans to assemble interceptor drones for MBDA and Alta Ares, targeting 1,000 units a month across France and Germany (La Gazette France).

The significance lies in where mass now comes from. Ukraine has shown that drones are consumed at rates traditional defense production lines were never built to sustain. Europe’s answer is to treat the automotive sector, with its high-rate assembly, supplier networks and cost discipline, as a strategic reserve of industrial capacity.

The open question is demand. Factories built for volume need steady orders. A line that can produce 100 munitions a day only strengthens deterrence if governments buy at a matching scale and sustain it over years, not single tranches of a few hundred.

Source: AFP, “Décupler la production: un groupe automobile allemand assemblera des drones pour l’armée française,” La Gazette France, October 13, 2026.