French Army hosts NATO FPV drone race at former airbase

The French Army turned Chaumont-Semoutiers Airbase into a high-speed FPV test track, bringing allied military pilots to eastern France for its first international drone competition and turning a former American runway into a course built for reflexes, nerve and precision. Hosted by the 61st Artillery Regiment, the two-day event on May 20 drew pilots from eight NATO members and mixed race-day spectacle with battlefield training, right down to bright yellow gates, an abandoned building and simulated strike runs.

The format would have looked familiar to anyone who follows civilian FPV racing. Pilots wore goggles, gripped radio controllers and pushed quadcopters through narrow obstacles while teammates watched from the sidelines. Bonus points were on offer for striking targets, including a moving Ford pickup truck, which gave the event a scoring system closer to competitive drone racing than to a conventional military demonstration. Among the competitors were Chief Cpl. Clément, Guardsman Mark and Sgt. Edgar, a reminder that this was an allied grid, not a single-unit exercise.

What separated the Chaumont race from a weekend club meet was the pace of learning. Teams from the United Kingdom and Denmark had been using FPV drones in their units for only several months, while some French teams had been flying them for more than a year. That gap made the event a live exchange of setup notes and handling advice, with pilots comparing frame geometry, video latency and control feel in the same way civilian racers trade tuning tips before qualifying.

The larger military context explains why the French Army wanted the competition in the first place. FPV drones began as amateur racing craft before being modified with explosive charges for war, and the conflict in Ukraine has become the main laboratory for how quickly those systems can reshape combat. French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill has said the current advantage of small aerial drones is temporary, pointing to battlefield losses from electronic warfare and the scale of destruction FPV platforms now deliver on the front line.

France is moving fast to keep up. Its updated military planning law adds €36 billion to defense spending between 2024 and 2030, and plans call for a sharp increase in explosive drone stockpiles by 2030. A French Army-linked micro-factory trial last year showed how industrially urgent the shift has become, with the ability to produce an FPV drone in about three hours per 3D printer and up to ten drones an hour. Chaumont was more than a race. It was a rehearsal for the next phase of drone warfare, using the language of sport to train for a battlefield that is changing by the month.