French fighter company Dassault invests $200M in autonomous drone startup Harmattan AI

A French startup called Harmattan AI that’s constructing autonomous drones for European military forces raised $200 million in a Series B funding today.

The round was led by the fighter aircraft and business jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation SA, and brings the corporate’s total amount raised to $242 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion.

Harmattan AI is a developer of low-cost and high-volume autonomous drones and the substitute intelligence software required to pilot them. It’s currently working on three separate products, including a military surveillance drone, a drone that’s designed to intercept weapons, and a training-focused system.

The corporate, which once described itself as a “European Anduril,” in reference to the U.S. defense technology startup Anduril Industries Inc., has up to now secured two contracts with the French and U.K. ministries of defense. In July, it announced that the French military had ordered 1,000 autonomous drones, and a number of months later it secured a good greater win when it said the U.K. government had agreed to acquire 3,000 systems as a part of a broader “multi-million programme.”

Very like Anduril, Harmattan AI once held ambitions to disrupt the defense technology industry and even perhaps displace legacy aircraft manufacturers, however it now says it’s able to partner with them. The corporate plans to assist Dassault, best known for its Rafale fighter jets, develop embedded AI capabilities for the following generation of its aircraft. As well as, it’s going to work with its recent backer on the event of recent drone systems.

“Dassault Aviation brings unmatched experience in combat aviation systems and long run system integration,” Harmattan co-founder and CEO Mouad M’Ghari wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “Harmattan AI brings a powerful experience in deploying autonomy and artificial intelligence into flying platforms, with a proven ability to execute military programs and deliver at scale.”

The startup said it’s already constructing “1000’s” of drones every month, and the cash from today’s round will enable it to scale up its manufacturing capabilities and potentially expand its technology to recent military applications.

The emergence of drone warfare in Ukraine has forced North Atlantic Treaty Organization members to rethink how they wage war and led to quite a lot of interest in autonomous technologies. Harmattan AI, which has previously collaborated with the Ukrainian drone manufacturer Skyeton, the cash from today’s round will enable it to scale up its manufacturing capabilities and expand its technology to recent domains reminiscent of drone interception, electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The funding announcement got the eye of French President Emmanuel Macron, who hailed the deal as “good news for our strategic autonomy, for the technological superiority of our armed forces in the sphere of AI-activated defense drones, in addition to our economy.”

Though Macron is clearly appreciative of what Harmattan AI is doing, the startup plans to cater to a much wider audience, with one in all its stated goals being to “empower the armed forces of liberal democracies and their allies.” According to this, the corporate is planning to exhibit its drone systems on the World Defense Show next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where senior U.S. military officials will little question be in attendance.

Harmattan AI Chief Technology Officer Martin de Gourcuff said in a separate LinkedIn post that there’s quite a lot of urgency in his company’s work. “Because the international order goes off the rails, we’re entering an era where, increasingly, power precedes law,” he said. “A reversal of the civilized world we try for. Harmattan AI exists to guard our values and flip that relationship back, as power without law is just mere violence.”

Image: Dassault