MBDA Wins French DGA Contract for AKERON RCX50 Loitering Munition for Army and Navy.

MBDA has secured a French DGA experimentation contract for the AKERON RCX50 loitering munition, giving French Army and Navy users a compact weapon for reconnaissance and precision strike beyond direct line of sight, the company announced on 16 June 2026. The move strengthens France’s push to field short-range remotely controlled munitions that can find, track, and attack targets at tactical depth without exposing troops or platforms.

Developed with Novadem in less than two years, AKERON RCX50 is a 2 kg-class system designed to engage targets out to 10 km while supporting training and operational evaluation by land and naval users. Its readiness for mass production is central to its military value, as Western forces increasingly prioritize affordable, scalable strike systems for dispersed operations and drone-dominated battlefields.

Related topic: French Thales RapidStriker Uses 70 mm Rockets to Defeat Drones in Mobile SHORAD Layer.

MBDA’s AKERON RCX50 is a 2 kg-class French loitering munition designed to give small units a man-in-the-loop reconnaissance and precision-strike capability against soft and light armored targets at ranges up to 10 km (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The AKERON RCX50 should be understood as a purpose-built weapon rather than as a commercial quadcopter adapted to carry an explosive charge. MBDA’s program management described the design approach as a combination of missile technologies and drone technologies, with Novadem acting as a development partner rather than as a simple supplier. The munition comes from work associated with the SPHINX demonstrator and the French COLIBRI effort, a Defense Innovation Agency and DGA initiative launched to examine low-cost remotely operated munitions for the contact zone. This background is important because it explains the design compromise: the RCX50 is not a heavy anti-tank missile and it is not a disposable first-person-view drone; it is a controlled reconnaissance-and-strike munition optimized for targets that appear inside the tactical commander’s immediate area of responsibility.

The air vehicle is a rotary-wing munition derived from Novadem’s NX70 experience and enlarged for a lethal mission. It folds to 470 x 170 x 110 mm and opens to 510 x 510 x 220 mm, allowing it to be carried in a pouch or backpack; preparation for flight is reported at less than five minutes, including activation and pairing with a 1.3 kg ruggedized tablet. Propulsion is electric, with battery endurance of 40 minutes, a cruise speed of 15 m/s, or 54 km/h, and a reported maximum altitude of 3,300 meters. MBDA’s published data lists the munition as approximately 50 cm long, about 2 kg in weight, launcher-free, man-portable, and capable of ranges up to 10 km. These figures place it in the same tactical space as company- and platoon-level reconnaissance drones, but with an integrated lethal effect and a controlled arming chain.

The armament is sized for soft and light armored targets, not for defeating a main battle tank through its frontal armor. The weapon uses an insensitive forward-facing warhead of about 500 grams, understood to combine a small shaped charge with several hundred fragmentation balls. The shaped charge provides focused penetration against thin armor, vehicle compartments, exposed equipment, firing ports, light armored vehicles, and similar targets, while the fragmentation element increases effect against personnel, sensors, antennas, light structures, and open equipment. A stand-off sensor is used to detonate at the distance needed for shaped-charge jet formation, while the charge can also be triggered remotely by the operator. Static warhead tests were conducted at DGA Techniques Terrestres in Bourges in early 2024, followed by an early 2025 in-flight firing sequence against an unarmored vehicle, mainly to validate the engagement process rather than to publish final lethality data.

The guidance architecture is a key difference from simpler improvised attack drones. The RCX50 uses a color TV sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared thermal sensor, giving the operator day and night detection options, including in urban areas or broken terrain where line-of-sight fire is limited. Navigation combines GNSS and an inertial measurement unit, with MBDA stating that the munition is resilient in GNSS-denied environments. The approach phase can be conducted through preplanned waypoints to reduce operator workload; once a target is detected, the operator selects it on the touchscreen and automatic tracking guides the munition toward the selected aim point. The tracking algorithms draw on AKERON MP missile experience, but with less computing power and commercial off-the-shelf processors to limit cost; the current system relies on image-processing algorithms based on target shape and contrast, not embedded artificial intelligence.

Operationally, the rotary-wing configuration gives the RCX50 a different use case from fixed-wing loitering munitions. It can move slowly through urban geometry, hover, follow streets or building lines, and perch on a structure to conserve energy while continuing observation before taking off again for attack. This makes it relevant for reconnaissance sections, infantry platoons, special operations detachments, and naval boarding or force-protection teams that need to observe an area before deciding whether to strike. The munition’s man-in-the-loop control, last-second mission cancellation, and reversible safety, arming, and functioning sequence are not secondary features; they define the tactical concept. The weapon remains safe until the operator sends the arming command, and if the mission is aborted it can be made safe again, although recovery may expose the user’s position and would remain a commander’s risk decision.

For French ground forces, the most realistic comparison is not with long-range artillery but with mortars, anti-tank guided missiles, and small reconnaissance drones. Mortars remain better for area suppression, smoke, illumination, and sustained fires, but they require ammunition supply, firing positions, observers, and deconfliction. AKERON MP provides heavier anti-armor effect but at higher cost and with a different engagement profile. The RCX50 fills the narrower requirement: a small unit can search, identify, hold fire, strike, or abort against a specific target beyond direct line of sight without calling for higher-echelon fires. This is especially relevant against light armored vehicles, mortar teams, electronic warfare detachments, air-defense sensors, logistics vehicles, and command posts that appear briefly and then displace.

The industrial point is also concrete. Production planning involved three sites: Novadem in Aix-en-Provence for the airframe, MBDA Bourges, and MBDA Selles-Saint-Denis for final assembly. That distribution indicates an attempt to combine drone-sector manufacturing methods with MBDA’s missile safety, warhead, and quality-control experience. If the DGA trials confirm reliability, training simplicity, electronic resilience, and safe employment by non-specialist tactical users, the RCX50 could become a practical French answer to a problem now visible across contemporary battlefields: how to give small units a controlled, recoverable, low-mass precision munition without consuming scarce missile stocks or relying on improvised armed drones.

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Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.