France’s SMOKERS Kamikaze USV Reaches Sea Trials in 6 Months

France’s defense procurement agency, the DGA, has taken its low-cost kamikaze unmanned surface vessel, SMOKERS, from initial concept to sea trials in just six months. The agency owns both the design and the intellectual property.

Naval News, reporting on October 26, 2026, explains that SMOKERS stands for “Scalable Maritime Operational Kamikaze System, Developed under Sovereign Control.” The program draws directly on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and from naval operations in the Arabian Gulf.

Program management sits with CERDAN, the Naval Drone Expert Center, one of five expert centers under the DGA and based at DGA Naval Techniques (DGA TN) in Toulon. DGA TN’s Naval Drone Systems department built the “dronization” kit, the electronics and IT architecture, the onboard software, the remote-control interface, and the systems needed for operational deployment. A sister unit, DGA Hydrodynamic Techniques (DGA TH), handled hull design and navigation-control software, then developed the SMOKERS V1.0 variant, setting up small-scale composite production, master models and molds, and building the platform itself on its own 3D printers.

The hull is made of resin-fiberglass composite, and propulsion relies on standard outboard motors similar to those fitted on rigid inflatable boats, a choice meant to keep both cost and complexity low. The craft reaches roughly 40 knots across a range of sea states. The DGA says its explosive payload, itself produced with 3D-printed pyrotechnics, can inflict significant damage on a first-rate enemy vessel, and the agency’s unit-cost target sits at just a few tens of thousands of euros.

Land and sea testing has taken place at Toulon and Cherbourg. Four sea-trial campaigns have been completed so far, including evaluations of how detectable the craft is to the French Navy’s own surface sensors. Three SMOKERS units took part in the WildFire 2026 exercise, which focused on multi-domain counter-drone operations; one of the three was configured as a target variant, painted white and stripped of the infrared sensors, satellite antenna and pyrotechnic compartment found on the grey operational version. Crews controlled the vessels from the air-defense destroyer Chevalier Paul, the LHD Tonnerre and the support ship Jacques Stosskopf, with technical backing from DGA TN and TH personnel throughout.

For now, the program runs on the DGA’s own internal center funding. Should the French Navy decide to procure the system, financing would shift to the Navy’s dedicated equipment budget. Because the design is deliberately simple to build, the DGA plans to hand production specifications to French industry broadly, including small shipyards and leisure-boat builders, and discussions on industrialization are already under way.

Naval News frames SMOKERS as part of the French Navy and DGA’s wider roadmap for unmanned surface vessels, building on April 2025 trials that used converted jet skis as targets. Taking a weapon system from concept to sea trials in six months signals how quickly low-cost kamikaze USVs are becoming a standard category across NATO navies, a trend that mirrors years of drone-boat warfare in the Black Sea now reaching Western fleets.

Sources:

• Naval News, “From Concept to Sea Trials in Six Months: France Fast-Tracks SMOKERS Kamikaze USV,” Florent de Saint Victor, October 26, 2026, navalnews.com — primary source for this report.