The Marine Nationale will be the first European navy to use the Aliaca VTOL, which has now been further developed by Survey Copter (a subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters) as a vertical take-off UAS, from on board. The Paris defence agency DGA (Direction Générale d'Armement) ordered 34 units from Airbus at the beginning of February, with delivery starting in May of this year. As the normal Aliaca fixed-wing drone with a choice of electric drive or hybrid piston engine has already been flown by the French Navy for some time, there is sufficient experience in handling and integrating the device. As a navalised quadcopter, the SMDM (Sytème de mini drones pour la Marine) combines the flight characteristics of the previous drone with the manoeuvrability of vertical deployment without launch and recovery equipment.