Naval Group’s Sirenha Seaquest S down selected for DANAE program after two-year testing, while ready for firing after Euronaval

On 9 October 2026, the French DGA announced that three contenders, among which Naval Group’s Sirenha Seaquest S, were down selected for the second phase of the Autonomous Naval Surface Drone with Onboard Weaponry (DANAE Drone de surface Autonome Naval avec capacité d’Armement Embarqué) project, aimed to provide the French Navy a USV solution for vessel escort and critical infrastructures protection. The second phase aims at evaluating and selecting the USV solution to be built, delivered and supported with the follow-on phase. On 14 September 2026, the French MoD launched also a formal tender for embarked, long-endurance surface drones for the French Navy

Unveiled during Euronaval 2024, in the last two years, Naval Group’s Sirehna company responsible for the Seaquest S development, has put to test and evaluated the USV and its command and control system in a series of operational evaluations and international exercises with different payloads to demonstrate its capabilities, the USV being readied for firing trials after Euronaval exhibition.

Developed by the small company Sirenha, with the support provided by Naval Group, its mother company, exploiting the knowledge and experience developed with a wide range of naval drones, from 2-metre USVs to the ‘dronization’ of commercial, very large crafts, mostly for maritime surveillance and defence missions. Today ‘ready-to-use’ (TRL 8/9) Seaquest USV was developed considering the fact that the unmanned system was to be operated and therefore launched and recovered by a mothership into high and rough seas, and to be maintained on board for long deployments with minimum support footprint, the Sirenha representative explained during a pre-Euronaval media tour.

During this event EDR On-Line had the opportunity to follow an at sea demonstration of the Seaquest S between Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer and Toulon; the USV conducted high and low speed operations, among which the interception of a smaller attacking USV, which was put off track while performing an offensive manoeuvre against the protected high-value target, represented by the boat carrying the media.

The Seaquest S was designed to be embarked on a naval ship, namely a frigate, requiring its dimensions to be compatible with the launch and recovery station systems and the dimensions and standard RHIB fast boat embarked on frontline combatant vessels. The new USV was also designed considering two different types of missions: long-duration missions ahead of naval forces and fast operations to protect the accompanying mothership and nearby high-value vessels in choke points and constrained littoral waters. In the first case the USV would conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions for days at slow speed in support of the naval force operating on high seas, while in the second case the high speed would be key to intercept fast approaching asymmetric threats such as kamikaze boats or advance and enlarging the protection network of the mothership and nearby vessels against air, missiles and surface threats.

With a platform provided by French Couach shipyard and the Naval Group Steeris command, control and mission planning system for unmanned platforms (being UAVs, USVs and UUVs), the Seaquest S is built by composite materiel and 9.3 metres long, has a 2.9 metres beam and a mass less than 6 tonnes. Thanks to its 350 hp engine coupled to a waterjet it can reach a maximum speed of 35 knots, while endurance reaches approximately 500 nautical miles. Capable to operate up to Sea State 5 and compatible with standard davits, it can be automatically launched and recovered from the mothership up to Sea State 3. The Seaquest S is designed around four distinct modules: the platforms itself, the communication module with line-of-sight (LoS) and beyond line-of-sight (BLoS) means for real time and delayed information transfer (Wifi, GSM, SATCOM and radios), the reclining panoramic sensor integrated mast (PSIM) for mission and navigation, and the payload module or modular mission area for different equipment based on the mission requirements, including effectors.

The Seaquest S is the first USV to be certified and able to operate by the French authorities without escort, as it is compliant with the national and international preventing collisions at sea (COLREG) rules and is equipped with a comprehensive navigation suite, which sensors are incorporated into the PSIM to provide a 360° coverage. The latter include day and night cameras, AIS and radar for the safety navigation as well as a pan-tilt-zoom camera for long-range surveillance, tracking and designation in addition to electronic warfare radio frequency and communications monitoring systems. The USV is also equipped with a comprehensive communications suite for LoS and BLoS, which during the sea trials observed by the media, included a SATCOM terminal antenna. To increase safety at sea, the USV is equipped with anti-intrusion systems to limit the possibility of a human being able to board when at sea, or the platform system being hacked.

In addition to a warning of approaching and boarding directly reporting to the remote centre, the other undisclosed equipment includes not only hardware but also software as the unmanned system platform and mission system has been developed with a cyber-by-design-approach, being kept up to date because threats are constantly evolving, the Sirehna representative said. The USV is equipped with a modular mission area with a volume of several cubic metres and can host payloads of several hundred kilograms in the bow section in front of the reclining PSIM for accommodating a wide range of mission equipment. Sirenha has developed an ecosystem of suppliers starting from the Couach shipyard to deliver a USV with up-to-date mission systems and payloads capable to evolve as requested by current fast-changing operational scenarios.

In the two years since the unveiling Sirenha, together with Naval Group, has participated to a range of national and international operational evaluation activities and unmanned systems dedicated and not-dedicated exercises, from Northern to Southern Europe, from cold to hot waters and environments, and soon will conduct sea firing trials with effectors. The Seaquest S took part in NATO exercises since the first trials in July 2024. In October 2024 the USV took part in a French exercise, where it was recovered on board an undisclosed Marine Nationale FREMM frigate. In June 2025, Naval Group and Sirehna took part in Task Force X Baltic, where both the Seaquest S USV and the Steeris Command C3 were embarked on board the BSAM Rhone of the Marine Nationale.

The Steeris Command, a mobile and compact operation centre, brings together the drone mission system Steeris MS (C3), the drone command and control system (C2), the antennas and some sensors for panoramic monitoring. During its first international allied exercise, the Seaquest S operated continuously at sea for up to 24 hours with Sea State 4 and demonstrated an endurance of up to 72 hours for a total operational capability, carrying out multiple ISR missions.

In September 2025, Sirenha took part in the NATO REPMUS 2025 exercise and conducted experimental sea trials of unmanned ASW barriers thanks to a dedicated package based on a sonobuoy launcher with two tubes; thanks to its sizeable payload mission area, the platform can accept a higher number of launch tubes. More recently, in June 2026, Naval Group and Sirehna demonstrated the deployment of a small quadcopter with its launching box developed by Naval Group from the Seaquest S. The latter can carry up to four of these boxes to deploy a mass-effect swarm of 40 quadcopters for force saturation. According to the Sirenha representative, the unmanned platform has also tested the soft-kill Cerbair anti-drone solution and can carry the Alta Ares X-Lock VSHORAD interceptors, both shown to the media, to conduct C-UAS operations. Among the systems already evaluated we find an unspecified electronic warfare payload, while in the future others are being considered such as anti-submarine light weapons and other effectors.

The USV was shown to the media equipped with one launch module for rockets of the Rampart multi-weapon launcher by Naval Group. The module arming the USV is one of the four being accommodated by the Rampart launcher, ensuring a communality of weapon, launcher, and storage systems.

“In the near future, hopefully in the coming weeks, after Euronaval,” a first at sea firing trial will be conducted from the Seaquest S with the Rampart launching module, the Sirenha representative told the media.

Photos by L. Peruzzi