{"id":96,"date":"2026-05-27T15:41:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=96"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:41:02","slug":"drones-europes-automakers-are-taking-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=96","title":{"rendered":"Drones? Europe\u2019s Automakers Are Taking Orders."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By early 2027, the first models of the \u201cChorus\u201d will be rolling off assembly lines at the French car manufacturer Renault. It\u2019s not a new emissions-free vehicle at an appealing price point\u2014the elusive savior of Europe\u2019s once confident automobile sector. Rather, the Chorus is the French brand\u2019s first foray into the burgeoning market of military drones. Designed with weapons contractor Turgis Gaillard, the Chorus drone will be put together across two of the carmaker\u2019s industrial sites. Engines manufactured at Renault\u2019s Cl\u00e9on facilities near Rouen will get final assembly at the group\u2019s factory in Le Mans, a site usually known for its chassis frames. <\/p>\n

Read more Dr. Harry Edwards on the NAACP\u2019s Call to Boycott Gerrymandering States<\/a><\/p>\n

The final product, according to the manufacturers\u2019 magazine L\u2019Usine Nouvelle<\/em>, is an ordnance with dual offensive and reconnaissance capabilities. Lauded in industry circles as a reply to Iran\u2019s Shahed drones or compared to Ukraine\u2019s Flamingo cruise missiles, the Chorus will purportedly be capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload with an estimated range of 3,000 kilometers (slightly over 1,864 miles), at a unit price of \u20ac120,000.<\/p>\n

Renault management denies that drone production could ever become a pillar of business strategy. The group \u201cdoes not aim to become a major actor in the defense sector,\u201d it said in a press release this winter, after its drone partnership was approved by employee representatives. For now, the scale of its agreement appears minimal: Renault is said to be broaching a 10-year pact with the French state valued at \u20ac1 billion. (In 2025, the group reported just shy of \u20ac58 billion in worldwide revenue.) For now, monthly output is expected to reach 600 Chorus drones when production hits full speed over the next year, compared to the many thousands of engines or car frames manufactured at the two sites in question.<\/p>\n

Yet these small steps are part of French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s calls to bring France to a \u201cwar economy\u201d footing. Tony Fortin, of the Lyon-based NGO L\u2019Observatoire de l\u2019Armement, warns that Renault\u2019s entry into the drone market has it starting down a familiar path. Denouncing \u201can extension of the military into civilian industry,\u201d Fortin said that Renault\u2019s deal \u201cnormalizes the notion that weapons are a market like any other.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also comes at a time of mounting difficulties for European automakers, with the twin threats of US tariffs and rising Chinese supply in the strategic market for next generation electric vehicles. At the peak of the critical metals crunch last October, when European heavy industry found itself in the crossfire of Trump\u2019s tug of war with Beijing, its chief automobile lobby warned that European corporations were \u201cdays away\u201d from full work stoppages. With operating profit margins declining by a little over one percent in 2025, Renault is still faring better than some of its European competitors. On May 21, Stellantis, which owns brands like Peugot, Jeep, and Fiat, projected an estimated 800,000 decline in its European automobile output by 2030.<\/p>\n

Renault is also not the only automobile group leaning into military hardware. Volkswagon is reportedly considering a partnership with Israeli armsmaker Rafael over missile defense production. Ola K\u00e4llenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, told The Wall Street Journal<\/em> on May 15 that \u201cEurope needs to strengthen its defense capabilities\u201d and that \u201cif [Mercedez-Benz] can play a positive role in that, we would be prepared to do so.\u201d <\/p>\n

Historically, industrial groups like these are no strangers to arms production, even if the trend since the 1990s saw them divesting from military-linked assets. In 2001, the French automaker sold off its military vehicles division, Renault Trucks Defense, to Volvo. Rebranded as Arquus, the firm is now owned by the Belgian industrial group John Cockerill. Two decades after its sale, Arquus is reportedly back at work on an un unmanned land vehicle with its former parent company. According to Le Figaro<\/em>, Renault is also expected to roll out at June\u2019s Eurosatory expo a mobile command post model with the French arms major Thales. <\/p>\n

Read more Dr. Harry Edwards on the NAACP\u2019s Call to Boycott Gerrymandering States<\/a><\/p>\n

The drift toward rearmament has workers in a difficult bind, with traditional labor hesitation making space for acceptance at the prospect of new contracts. Weeks before abstaining at the social council vote held in February, the Renault branch of the left-wing CGT union wrote in a press release: \u201cIf there\u2019s going to be weapons production, it must only serve the needs of national defense, be under strict public oversight, and can under no circumstances be driven by market forces, the search for profits, or as exports to fuel armed conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Force Ouvri\u00e8re was the only union at Renault to approve the partnership, and its Renault delegate Mounir Mestari claims that among workers, \u201cmany, if not a clear majority, look favorably\u201d on the drone plan. Renault management agreed that work on the military hardware would be on an exclusively volunteer basis and guaranteed special security measures at the industrial sites manufacturing the Chorus. <\/p>\n

The relatively mooted response at Renault is hard to dissociate from the crisis gripping the broader European auto industry. \u201cOur position has been very clear: there\u2019s no denying that car makers are struggling to really take off when it comes to electric vehicles, so any activity that could bring employment and industrial production is a good thing,\u201d Mestari told The Nation<\/em>. Though tapped as a site for producing engines for Renault\u2019s electric vehicles, total employment at the Cl\u00e9on facility is stagnant at around 3,000 workers, down by several hundred since the late 2010s. With Renault currently restructuring its Amp\u00e8re electric line, Stellantis appears to be doubling down on partnerships with Chinese brands.<\/p>\n

Without the state protections afforded to Chinese carmakers, corporations in the European Union have taken aim at the bloc\u2019s environmental regulations, winning carve-outs last December to the EU\u2019s planned 2035 phaseout of new internal combustion engines. Mestari expressed similar frustrations, claiming that 25 percent of staff at Renault\u2019s Guyancourt site, its technical research and development facility in the outer suburbs of Paris, are employed in norms compliance. Yet, by that same logic, the technicians at the very same facility working on Renault\u2019s drone projects are also diverted from the work of car making, at a critical juncture in the industry\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Still, Renault executives have said that drones will be just a \u201ccomplement\u201d to the group\u2019s regular business activities. But the French state will be there to coax things along too. Speaking before a senate hearing in February, Patrick Pailloux, director of the defense ministry\u2019s arms procurement bureau, argued that the rapprochement with Renault was less about buying a line of drones that \u201cwill soon be obsolete\u201d than it was about getting a system up and running: \u201cThis work will ensure that Renault, if the day comes, will be able to produce in volume.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: Government Shutdown as Coup d\u2019\u00c9tat<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDrones? Europe\u2019s Automakers Are Taking Orders. - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=96\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drones? 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