After prolonged reflection, the French navy thinks it now has a road map for integrating tac-tical, long-endurance and per-haps armed unmanned aerial vehicles into its operations. The rethink brought an incipient tactical UAV project (dubbed the DMT) to a halt as naval planners realized that basic technology building-blocks and links to other operational requirements were insufficient. In addition to long-endurance UAVs, planners wanted to see how a tactical system would fit in with other naval requirements, such as surface and submarine drones, says Capt. Vincent Pinasa, who heads the French navy's aeronautical programs.
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