Elistair’s automated Khronos Tethered DroneBox was utilized in ORION 2026, France’s large-scale joint military exercise.
Running from February to April 2026, the exercise mobilized up to 12,500 military personnel across the country in a high-intensity, multi-domain scenario involving land, sea, air, space, cyber, and electromagnetic domains. Over 1,200 drones of various types were deployed throughout the operation.
Elistair, a designer and manufacturer of tethered drones for security applications, participated in Phase O4, which ran from April 7 to 30. This followed the company’s initial contribution during Phase O2 in February, which demonstrated France’s ability to fully integrate into a NATO command structure for collective defense scenarios.
During the final week of April, forces conducted offensive exploitation operations, river crossings, the retaking of key positions, and live-fire exercises. Within this demanding environment, the Khronos platform addresses one of the most pressing challenges in modern high-intensity conflict.
The system provides persistent, continuous aerial surveillance from fixed or mobile platforms without relying on GNSS or radio frequency infrastructure. By eliminating the dependency on battery-limited free-flying drones, the technology ensures that military personnel can maintain real-time situational awareness in contested and GNSS-denied environments.
