Villepinte (France) (AFP) – Euronaval, the world's largest naval defense exhibition, opens Tuesday near Paris in a booming market, where drones and artificial intelligence are gradually establishing themselves alongside traditional warships.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 02:23

The 30 edition of this biennial show which will last until Friday in Villepinte, north of Paris, has the theme "Towards high intensity", a military euphemism to designate the prospect of war at sea.

“Recent conflicts have placed the sea at the center of collective security” while 80% of the volume of international trade passes through maritime routes and submarine cables carry 99% of telephone and internet communications, underlines Pierre Eric Pommellet, president of the show.

"Inexpensive weapons"

“In naval combat, you have to see first and act first,” underlines Mr. Pommellet, also president of Gican, a group of French naval industries and CEO of Naval group.

This requires increasing the number of detection methods, from satellites to drones and underwater sensors, as well as making greater use of artificial intelligence to use the information collected more quickly.

Of the more than 700 exhibitors expected for this edition, there will be around sixty companies specializing in drones compared to 17 two years ago.

“The spectrum of threats is widening and the development of drones makes it possible to deploy relatively inexpensive weapons on a large scale, alongside ever more sophisticated systems,” summarizes Guillaume Merveilleux du Vignaux, Commissioner General of Euronaval.

Lessons from Hormuz and Ukraine

For the navies, the threat no longer comes only from opposing war fleets but also from actors who are more difficult to identify, such as armed groups or ghost fleets.

The Strait of Hormuz offers an illustration of this. Despite the relative weakness of its navy compared to the great Western powers, Iran remains able to disrupt maritime traffic thanks to drones, missiles and surveillance means deployed from its coasts, details Guillaume Merveilleux du Vignaux.

“There is no necessarily need to deploy a fleet offshore. We can strike from land,” according to him.

“They use ballistic missiles, which are extremely difficult to intercept, but also drones,” adds the commissioner.

“Drones are a democratization of precision firepower on land, in the air and at sea,” summarizes Vincent Tourret, researcher at the Ifri Center for Security Studies.

The war in Ukraine accelerated this revolution. Since 2024, Ukrainian Magura surface drones have sunk several Russian ships in the Black Sea, demonstrating that a relatively cheap machine could threaten buildings worth hundreds of millions of euros.

These machines are expected to take an increasing place in future “hybrid fleets” alongside frigates and submarines which remain essential for modern naval combat.

This transformation of naval forces is accompanied by a sharp increase in investment in naval defense.

According to the pre-Euronaval study, the global military shipbuilding market is expected to reach $122 billion in 2024-2025, compared to $82 billion during the previous period studied two years ago.

Nuclear attack submarine programs alone represent more than $27 billion in investments, with 17 units launched or under construction over the 2024-2025 period, compared to six previously. Orders for conventional submarines increased from 11 to 18 units.

“Restrictive” framework for Israel

Israeli participation will be placed under close surveillance within a "very defined and restrictive framework" established by the French government authorizing non-governmental exhibitors to present only anti-aircraft, anti-missile and anti-ballistic defense equipment.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel's participation in defense exhibitions in France has caused tensions.

At the Paris Air Show in June 2025, black tarpaulins hid Israeli offensive weapons, provoking the anger of Israel, which denounced discrimination. In June 2026, at Eurosatory, restrictions on anti-aircraft and anti-missile equipment led to the closure of twelve Israeli stands and new protests from the Jewish state.

Half a dozen Israeli companies have registered for Euronaval, according to organizers.

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© 2026 AFP

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