Rift trials persistent drone surveillance off the French coast
Rift's Spirit fixed-wing, VTOL UAV, part of its persistent maritime surveillance infrastructure, displayed carrying two interceptor UAVs at Euronaval 2026. (Janes/John Hill)
French surveillance systems developer Rift conducted the first maritime trials of its persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) infrastructure off Brittany on 5 November 2026. CEO Daniel Nef told Janes about the trial during the Euronaval 2026 exhibition, held in Paris from 3-6 November.
Supported by EUR1.3 million (USD1.45 million) in ‘France 2030' innovation funding, the trials tested Rift's remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from two 12 m-long, transportable containerised stations. Each station can support three UAVs. Each UAV has a five-hour endurance and a range of up to 300 km, according to the company.
The company's concept sees land- or ship-based stations placed along a coastline to project out persistent aerial observation. That would complement existing maritime surveillance and could respond should a situation develop at sea.
“Our main use case … is protecting the coast,” Nef said. When coastal radar detects a potential threat, Rift's infrastructure can dispatch a UAV from a coastal or shipborne container within 30 seconds to investigate the radar track and identify the threat.
Rift's UAV is named Spirit. The persistent surveillance concept relies on the continuous deployment of several fixed-wing systems, each with vertical take-off and landing capability and a rear-mounted pusher propeller for forward flight. Spirit can carry up to 4 kg of payload.
Nef identified several French suppliers working with Rift on ISR payloads. Merio will provide sensors, while ChapsVision will support signal intelligence (SIGINT).
Spirit can also be configured to intercept targets kinetically. At Euronaval, Rift displayed a Spirit carrying two interceptor UAVs, one beneath each wing, which Nef said were intended to engage small first-person view (FPV) UAVs.
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