Moroccan Firm Unveils Autonomous Drone With a Claimed 2,000-Kilometer Range and No Need for GPS
A company based in Rabat has unveiled the first version of an autonomous drone developed entirely in Morocco. Its claimed range is 2,000 kilometers, but its main distinguishing feature is its ability to keep navigating when GPS signals disappear.
Ballistic Defense System (BDS) unveiled its prototype on September 28 in a presentation published by its co-founder Fahd Laamoumi. The company says the aircraft was designed, programmed, built and tested in Morocco by Moroccan engineers, with no outsourcing abroad.
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BDS gives the drone a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. This figure refers to the aircraft’s claimed performance, not the distance covered in a public test. The company says its next step will be a demonstration under real-world conditions.
The project’s core is its navigation system. When satellite signals are jammed or spoofed, the drone no longer relies on a position transmitted by GPS. It analyzes the terrain below its flight path and compares it with a digital elevation map stored on board.
The calculations are performed directly on the aircraft by a computer described as small enough to fit in one hand. BDS says it uses commercially available sensors, with most of the system’s value coming from its navigation and artificial intelligence software.
Three modules to navigate, search for and approach the target
Autonomy is divided among several modules. The first guides the drone without GPS. As it approaches the programmed area, a second module searches for and identifies the target. A third then takes over during the final phase.
According to BDS, the prototype was developed in less than 18 months on a budget of under 1.15 million dollars. The company says it prioritized components available on the market so it could focus its resources on algorithms, data and intellectual property.
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The company is led by Fahd Laamoumi, a Belgian-Moroccan aerospace engineer who graduated from ISAE-SUPAERO. BDS describes its project as a sovereign technology, with its expertise, data and intellectual property rights to remain in Morocco.
