Schaeffler and Delair scale European drone production

2026-06-19 | Paris

• Schaeffler and Delair enter into strategic partnership aiming to support industrial ramp-up of Delair’s drone production in France
• New production line for drones and interceptors will be able to deliver around 100 units per day by November 2026
• The cooperation combines Schaeffler’s world-class product capabilities with Delair’s expertise in drone design, integration and operational deployment

Schaeffler, a leading Motion Technology Company, and Delair, a leading French developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have entered into a new strategic cooperation aiming to support the industrial ramp-up of Delair’s drone production and strengthen Europe’s sovereign unmanned aerial systems capabilities, by launching a new production line for drones and interceptors that will be able to deliver 100 units per day by November 2026. The cooperation combines Schaeffler’s world-class product capabilities with Delair’s expertise in drone design, integration and operational deployment.

The new production line will allow to manufacture the Damoclès drone, which is already qualified by French DGA and equips the French Army, as well as the newly announced Aspik Interceptor.

The production line, located in France, will give Delair the means to propose competitive products at large scale. The parties intend to develop a durable industrial partnership supporting the production of multi-rotor drones and related subsystems, with the shared objective of strengthening Europe’s defense industrial base and accelerating the availability of scalable, high-performance unmanned aerial systems.

“Schaeffler brings proven industrial capabilities that are highly relevant to the drone sector,” said Rémy Triouleyre, Regional CEO Europe of Schaeffler. “We see strong potential in supporting Delair’s growth through serial assembly, production scaling and component supply, while contributing to the development of resilient European defense-industrial capacity.”

“This cooperation with Schaeffler marks an important step in Delair’s industrial and European development,” said Bastien Mancini, CEO of Delair. “By combining Delair’s UAS know-how with Schaeffler’s manufacturing excellence and industrial scale, we are aiming to strengthen our production capability and accelerate delivery of advanced drone systems to our customers.”

Forward-looking statements and projections
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial consequences of the plans and events described herein. No one undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. Statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or events should not be taken as representation that such trends or events will continue in the future. The cautionary statements set out above should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that Schaeffler, or persons acting on its behalf, may issue.