Responding to Europe’s defense challenges through dual use: the EyePulse example

Summary

Faced with the urgent needs of European defense, Daher is proposing an approach based on its regulatory and industrial expertise: converting certified civilian platforms into military drones by leveraging civil approvals and a proven production system.
This strategy drastically reduces cycles and costs while ensuring airworthiness compliance within two distinct regulatory frameworks. The EyePulse demonstrator for a European Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone – based on Daher’s TBM general aviation aircraft  – illustrates this convergence: modular architecture, digital continuity, and dual-use technologies validated by both civil and military authorities.
Beyond technical confirmation, this approach paves the way for rapid and secure industrialization, combining operational pragmatism with strategic ambition.

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European defense faces a tough challenge: producing drones quickly and in large numbers, across all categories, while meeting strict operational and regulatory requirements. This is a pragmatic approach: leveraging civil certification approvals to convert existing aircraft into drones, thereby reducing costs and timelines.

It was the topic that I discussed with Florian Guillermet, Executive Director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), during the 5th European Defense & Security Conference, which was aligned with the White Paper for European Defence and the ReArm Europe Plan- Readiness 2030.

 

A triple challenge: technical, organizational and regulatory

Efficiency gains are possible only if an aircraft and its drone variant share a very similar technical base, derived from an already certified aircraft, which enables program/production cycles and cost objectives to be met.

Even if operational concepts (CONOPS) differ, the goal is not to design a specific aircraft, but rather a modular platform – similar to what happens in the automotive industry – and adapting it into two distinct versions for the different users while remaining industrially similar.

This approach is enabled by the structural and aerodynamic requirements that are similar for a MALE drone and a civil aircraft, limiting additional efforts to the military-specific features.

As a result, compliance demonstrations can largely rely on mature processes and existing authorizations, allowing, for example, flight tests under direct manufacturer approval. Production benefits from an approved framework, ensuring speed and reliability.

Beyond product certification, achieving optimal cycle and cost depends on leveraging existing approved design and production organizations.

Managing these dimensions jointly across the entire value chain, under dual regulatory frameworks and tight deadlines, is a true asset for the aircraft architect.

EyePulse: a demonstration rather than a theory

This was Daher’s goal with EyePulse, the demonstrator based on its TBM aircraft. The project illustrates a concrete approach: relying on existing certifications and proven industrial capabilities to accelerate implementation, while integrating military requirements.

EyePulse demonstrated, through this program’s rapid execution, the possible convergence between civil and military objectives across the entire value chain. Daher’s demonstration flights – particularly the one conducted for high-ranking representatives of the French DGA defense procurement and technology agency on November 27, 2025 – occurred after only four months of actual work, providing initial proof of feasibility.

Daher is now continuing its work to expand the functional scope and solve the organizational equation to ensure technical and financial feasibility that meets European defense challenges.

From “pilot first” to “system first”

The e-copilot® concept by Daher integrates technologies that provide assistance for a single pilot when flying an advanced aircraft, including the HomeSafe™ function that ensures an automatic landing in case of pilot incapacitation. These features are retained, but are re-architected to meet the specific requirements of a “system first” drone: in the situation of an unexpected event, the machine makes the decision – not a pilot.

Using technologies already certified for civil aviation facilitates the integration of drones into civil airspace operations, simplifying training and pre-deployment before military operations.

Agnostic technologies

Certain civilian aviation innovations are applicable directly to the defense sector, and technological dualities appear where least expected. What’s the link between reducing CO₂ emissions – which is a priority for civil aviation – and the performance of a MALE drone? Answer: high-aspect-ratio wings and electric flight controls.

In both cases, the goal is to improve energy efficiency, which requires active control via electric flight controls to manage aircraft mass and vibration modes linked to the extension of a drone’s wingspan.

Two very different flight regimes – economic cruise at altitude for a civilian aircraft versus persistence (the sustained presence over a target or patrol zone) at low speed and low altitude for drones – can be addressed by the same technical solutions.

The production system: at the heart of cycle control

Using a proven production system is probably the most important factor in reducing program/production cycles.

Simultaneous production of several different aircraft versions on the same production line, however, requires rigorous configuration management, based on implementing digital continuity from the type definition to the certificate of conformity for each element produced for each aircraft that comes off the production line.

This also requires manufacturing technologies capable of supporting structural modifications specific to military aircraft without resorting to special tooling or alternative processes.

A system fine-tuned for operational needs

Finally, Daher’s operational experience with the TBM – more than 1,300 airplanes produced during 35+ years, logging millions of flight hours – provides a solid foundation for ensuring operational availability.

The same applies to logistics support, operational maintenance, predictive maintenance deployment, and individualized maintenance programs – all based on years of practical experience and a database enriched by an existing fleet.

Conclusion: pragmatism and convergence

Civil/military duality has its limits, but it offers a realistic path to address urgency, which is at the heart of Europe’s defense concerns today. With EyePulse, Daher has demonstrated that it is possible to reconcile short-term operational capability with long-term strategic ambitions.