France’s defense procurement agency has contracted MBDA to develop and manufacture a long-range one-way attack drone aimed at saturating and degrading enemy air defense systems.
The One-Way Effector (OWE) UAV, first revealed at the Paris Air Show in June 2025, is expected to enter service with the French Armed Forces in mid-2027.
Developed by MBDA alongside Aviation Design and other industry partners, the platform is designed to deliver an affordable, mass-producible strike capability suited for high-intensity warfare. Initial production is planned at around 100 drones per year, with the ability to rapidly scale output to more than 1,000 units per month.
The wing-shaped drone has a 3.3-meter wingspan and a length of 3 meters. It is armed with a 40-kilogram warhead and can engage targets beyond 500 kilometers at speeds reaching 400 kilometers per hour.
Sitting between high-cost cruise missiles and expendable loitering munitions, the OWE is intended to trigger enemy air defenses into action, revealing their positions for follow-on strikes by other long-range weapons.
The program reflects lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, particularly the employment of Shahed-type drones to overwhelm Western-supplied air defense systems. Pursued under an accelerated development schedule, the project moved from announcement to first test firing and initial contract signing in under a year, according to MBDA.
