Elistair has deployed its Khronos automated tethered DroneBox as part of ORION 2026, described as France’s most ambitious joint military exercise in decades.
Running from February to April 2026, the exercise mobilizes up to 12,500 military personnel across a high-intensity, multi-domain operational scenario spanning land, sea, air, space, cyber, and electromagnetic environments. More than 1,200 drones are being deployed throughout the exercise. Elistair, which designs and manufactures tethered drones for security applications, is participating in Phase O4 of ORION 2026 following an earlier contribution during Phase O2 in February.
According to Elistair, Phase O4 demonstrates France’s ability to integrate into a NATO command structure within a collective defense scenario. During the week of April 27, participating forces are conducting offensive exploitation operations, river crossings, retaking of key positions, and live-fire exercises.
Within this operational environment, the Khronos system is designed to provide persistent aerial surveillance from fixed and mobile platforms without relying on GNSS, radio frequency infrastructure, or battery-limited free-flying drones. Elistair states that this capability is intended to support real-time situational awareness in contested and GNSS-denied environments encountered during high-intensity operations.
