Paris Air Show 2025: Aarok UAV starting flight tests, gets Thales radar

An Aarok UAV with cockpit for flight-testing displayed by Turgis Gaillard at the Paris Air Show 2025. (Janes/Tom Barton)

An Aarok medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) modified with a cockpit for flight-testing was displayed at the Paris Air Show 2025, held between 16 and 22 June.

A likely use case for the Aarok was in places like North Africa, where long endurance and speed to the target were especially important, said Nick Wheeler, Director of Turgis and Gaillard Group company Blois Aero Services. “The [Baykar Bayraktar] Akıncı UAV is different. It is made for strike. The Aarok is primarily for ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance]. It has elevators to retract sensors inside the fuselage to reduce drag and protect them during take-off and landing. These features show the attention we have given to this being an ISR platform.”

It has been designed as a platform for sensors provided by the French aerospace sector, and was displayed alongside Safran's Euroflir 610 electro-optical sensor. “That is the biggest one we can get onto it, on the back of the fuselage,” said Wheeler, adding that like a front sensor the intention was for it to be retractable up inside when not on station.

The UAV was also displayed alongside a Thales AirMaster S multirole active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, with Thales and Turgis Gaillard announcing on 17 June that they were teaming up to offer the Aarok integrated with AirMaster S as a fully French MALE ISR UAV product. Weighing 78 kg and with a 370 km range, the AirMaster S has been operationally proven with the French Navy's Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). Wheeler said the radar would likely be mounted in a pod under the central fuselage.