Australian Army develops UAV tactics with French Army

Colonel Robin Smith, director of Army’s Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation and Coordination Office; Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hepworth, artificial intelligence specialist; and Lieutenant Colonel Matthias Leroy, Commanding Officer of 94th Infantry Regiment, French Army, emphasised the value of sharing knowledge and strong partnerships among like-minded nations during the visit.

“Gaining and maintaining an asymmetric advantage to deliver mass and scalable effects requires Army to not only explore emerging technology but to inform and co-design tactics and techniques to meet our operational needs,” LTCOL Hepworth said.

“The live-force experimentation model demonstrated by the French Army supports this vision.”

Lieutenant Colonel Leroy said the visit allowed deepened exchanges between the two nations on the reality of the integration of automated systems in a tactical framework.

“The continued collaboration between the Australian and French Army leverages the knowledge, skills, and potential of our people and allies to accelerate our innovation,” Lieutenant Colonel Leroy said.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.