Harmattan AI Sonora
Harmattan AI's small training and reconnaissance quadcopter, bought by French and British forces.
The UK Ministry of Defence ordered 110 Harmattan AI Sonora drones through Exeter's Brigantes Consulting, announced on 16 September 2026, adding a British buyer to France, which has ordered 6,000 since June 2025.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for Harmattan AI Sonora
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Drones: Industry & DefenceBackground
Harmattan AI Sonora is a small French quadcopter built to train soldiers to fly drones and to carry out short-range reconnaissance. It weighs under 1.8kg, flies for more than 40 minutes, has a range of about 2km and carries day and infrared cameras.
France bought it first. Its procurement agency, the Direction Générale de l'Armement, signed an order for 1,000 in June 2025 and ordered 5,000 more in June 2026, at a reported unit cost below €1,000.
The UK followed with 110 in September 2026. Harmattan AI, a start-up less than two years old, also builds the 2.2kg GOBI Zephyr interceptor, a separate product that France began buying the same month.
Sonora wins a British order
On 16 September 2026 the Ministry of Defence announced 110 Sonora drones within Project Rapstone, its £16m purchase of small drones. Brigantes Consulting, based in Exeter, supplies them in partnership with Harmattan AI, beside 670 Skydio X10s and 245 FOXE-NATO aircraft from other suppliers.
For Sonora the British order is small next to French volumes, but it gave Harmattan AI a foothold outside France. A week later, on 23 September, France's procurement agency sent the same company its first order for GOBI Zephyr interceptors, so the young maker now sells both a training quadcopter and a combat interceptor to European forces.