The prototype of French developer Turgis Gaillard’s medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) AAROK uncrewed air vehicle (UAV) has made its flight debut. The sortie lasted just under 1h, with the landing gear remaining extended throughout.
Flown from Blois-Le Breuil airfield on 9 September with a pilot on board, the aircraft carries the registration F-WROK. It will be tested in a piloted configuration initially to satisfy national airworthiness requirements.
With a maximum take-off weight of 5,440kg (12,000lb), the AAROK is intended to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and light strike tasks in uncrewed guise. The platform will be capable of carrying a weapons payload of up to 1,500kg, says its developer, which is promising to deliver an operational capability which is “unrivalled in Europe”.
Previous information released by the company indicates that the UAV – unveiled at the 2023 Paris air show – will have a flight endurance of 24h, and a cruise altitude of 30,000ft.
“The level of maturity demonstrated is the main lesson learned from this maiden flight,” says company chief executive Patrick Gaillard.
“As with the high-speed taxiing campaign, everything went as we had anticipated. The aircraft displayed superb flying qualities, a smooth take-off and an impressive climb rate, with all parameters in line with expectations.
“These successes give us a great confidence for the next steps,” he adds.
The company’s chairwoman, Fanny Turgis, describes the milestone as “a decisive step in the development of AAROK”.
“It crowns four years of significant effort to create the first European MALE UAV,” she says of the company-funded project. “The entire team has worked tirelessly to transform a simple idea into a successful aircraft,” she adds.
The company says it is “committed to implementing the test programme”, and “determined to make the AAROK available to the French armed forces and their allies as quickly as possible”.
France’s DGA defence procurement agency in July 2025 named Turgis Gaillard among five companies to receive funding to support their MALE UAV development efforts, with Paris seeking to field a capability from 2026.
And at the Paris air show the same month, Turgis Gaillard and Thales announced a partnering agreement through which the MALE platform could be fitted with the latter’s AirMaster S active electronically scanned array radar and other systems.
