Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Delair
- Origin / production countries
- France
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- DT46 VTOL; DT46 conventional fixed-wing
- Operators / programme customers
- French Army
Evidence & current status
Published performance is supplier-reported and configuration dependent; operational use does not independently validate every specification.
DT46 is Delair's convertible fixed-wing reconnaissance platform. The manufacturer offers vertical-take-off and conventional configurations using the same aircraft family. This allows the product to serve different deployment and endurance requirements, but it also means that a catalogue must retain the configuration attached to each figure.
The current product table lists a heavier VTOL version with shorter endurance than the conventional version. Both have the same advertised wingspan and payload limit. Delair offers electro-optical and infrared sensors, mapping equipment and an open-payload option. A customer's installed sensor package is therefore not necessarily the equipment shown in a generic marketing image.
The French defence ministry presents DT46 as a tactical UAV, and Delair's current page documents French Army activity and deliveries. The record distinguishes that military use from civil demonstration and mapping applications. Future propulsion developments or longer-endurance derivatives require their own verified specifications. Here, published flight duration is an advertised upper limit, not a guaranteed duration with the maximum payload in every weather condition.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Convertible fixed-wing UAV with optional vertical-lift configuration | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Launch / recovery | VTOL; or catapult launch and belly recovery | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | 4.5 m span; 2 m length | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Mass | 25 kg VTOL; 20 kg conventional configuration | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Endurance | Up to 3 h 30 min VTOL; up to 6 h 30 min conventional | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Range | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source |
| Speed | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source |
| Altitude | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source |
| Payload | 5 kg | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Sensors | EO/IR; LiDAR/RGB or customer payload options | Manufacturer-published specification; maximum values are not necessarily simultaneous. Source |
| Communications / navigation | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source |
Publication history
- — Added a sourced global catalogue profile with configuration-specific data and explicit evidence limits.
Suggest a correction to this entry
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- DT46 current variant specifications (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme
- French defence ministry DT46 profile (opens in a new tab)Government / military