Naval Group unveiled Seaquest M on 2 November, a 37m steel-hulled medium USV that the French shipbuilder says is built for "10-day increments without human intervention"1. The launch came ahead of Euronaval, the Paris naval defence trade show.
The French Navy has set its priorities for a medium hull in order: endurance, secure communications links and hull durability first, with weapons left to later increments. The US Navy took the opposite route in September, committing to thirty medium hulls in one batch split between three yards. Paris is paying to learn before it buys a fleet; Washington bought the fleet and will learn on it.
Lower down the size range, ENSTA Brest, a French defence engineering school, has opened an EU-funded tender for 7m and 3.5m naval-drone hulls, with bids closing in late November2.
