Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Thales
- Origin / production countries
- France
- Other names
- SMDR
- Variants / configurations
- SMDR VMO+; SMDR V1Bis
- Operators / programme customers
- French Army
Evidence & current status
DGA documents deliveries and operational deployment; the cited 2022 fleet figures are historical, not a current inventory.
Spy'Ranger 330 is the aircraft used in the French SMDR reconnaissance system. The DGA describes a package containing three aircraft and a ground station; counting systems as individual aircraft would therefore understate the air-vehicle quantity. Its operator account documents day/night imagery and deployment on Operation Barkhane from late 2020.
The November 2022 delivery release supplies a useful dated configuration baseline. The later DGA certificate register identifies Spy'Ranger 330/SMDR VMO+ and V1Bis, supporting the model identity without suggesting that every delivered aircraft has identical software or equipment.
This profile uses the operator baseline instead of mixing the wider Spy'Ranger product range. A communications radius is not a one-way ferry range, and the historic delivery total is not a current fleet count. Later acceptance, losses, upgrades and customer-specific equipment need their own sources before changing the record.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Ramp launch; recovery not established here | Only the sourced launch method is recorded. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Approximately 4 m wingspan | DGA SMDR baseline, November 2022. Source |
| Mass | 15 kg | Operator-described SMDR aircraft. Source |
| Endurance | Approximately 2 h 30 min | Configuration stated in the 2022 delivery release. Source |
| Range | 30 km video datalink reach | Communications reach from ground station, not ferry range. Source |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sensors | Day/night electro-optical imaging | Operator-described payload. Source |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
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.
- DGA: five additional SMDR systems delivered, 10 November 2022 (opens in a new tab)Government / operator
- DGA drone type certificate register, 12 March 2024 (opens in a new tab)Government / certification