Moroccan company Ballistic Defense System (BDS) has completed the first prototype of an autonomous drone, reporting successful field tests. The development comes as Morocco steps up efforts to strengthen its defence industry and build domestic capabilities in unmanned aerial technologies, amid rapid changes in the global defence sector.
Following the announcement, Assahifa English interviewed Fahd Laamoumi, BDS co-founder and CEO, to learn more about the drone’s technical capabilities, the next stages of development, and the tests it has undergone.
The interview also explores the company’s engagement with Moroccan military institutions and its plans to move from prototype development to industrial production.
1-What is the next practical step after this successful test: broader field trials, final-version development, or pilot production?
The next step is the final-version development. Our onboard system, the "brain" and the "eyes" of the drone, is now fully finalized: GPS-free navigation, computer vision and the AI agents. We validated it in real flights on a 17 kg test drone.
We now need to integrate this same onboard system into our operational airframe, a drone of about 250 kg designed for a range of 2,000 km and a 50 kg payload. Building and flight-testing an aircraft of that size requires access to a proper take-off and landing runway. Once the operational version is validated, we will move to broader field trials, a live demonstration for end users and, after a first contract, pilot production.
2-Have there been official contacts or technical presentations to the Royal Armed Forces to evaluate the system or consider it for development and procurement programs?
Yes. We have held two working meetings with the National Defense Administration and one with the Royal Armed Forces. We have also requested access to a military runway to finalize the operational airframe, and proposed a live demonstration of the system. We are awaiting their feedback.
We have also been supported by the Ministry of Industry through the Innovation Support Fund, and I would like to warmly thank Minister Ryad Mezzour, who has received us three times and has always believed in our project.
Procurement processes are naturally designed for large industrial groups, and start-ups are still new to this ecosystem, so these things take time. Morocco remains our priority: this technology was developed by Moroccans to contribute to His Majesty King Mohammed VI's vision of a national defense industry.
3-What tests were conducted to validate the claimed 2,000-kilometre range and GPS-independent navigation performance?
I want to be transparent on this point. The GPS-independent navigation has been validated in real flight tests: to date, we have flown about 800 km with our test drone, over land and over water, by day and by night, with every calculation running onboard. The flights shown in the video took place in Chimay, Belgium, in the last week of August 2026.
The 2,000 km range is the design specification of our operational airframe and has not yet been demonstrated in a single flight. Our navigation works the same way over 20 km or 2,000 km. Range depends mainly on the airframe, the engine and the fuel capacity, which is well-established aeronautical engineering. We will demonstrate it in flight as soon as we have access to a suitable test infrastructure.
This is also why we chose to conduct our current tests in Europe. Morocco does not yet have a dedicated framework for drone flight testing, nor a procedure giving national start-ups access to military test facilities. Countries that innovate in defense have created such interfaces between their armed forces and industry, and we hope Morocco will do the same, because without flight testing, there is no innovation.
4-What navigation and sensing system does the drone use when satellite signals are jammed or unavailable?
The drone navigates much like a pilot flying under visual flight rules: with a map, a compass and his own eyes. Its onboard cameras and standard sensors continuously observe the terrain below. The system compares what it sees with a digital elevation map and computes its own position in real time, with no satellite signal at all. Everything runs onboard, on a computer the size of a hand.
Once the drone reaches its objective area, a second AI agent searches for the target, and a third takes over for the final high-precision approach.
The drone also has a data link, by radio or satellite internet. As long as the link is active, an operator can take back control, change the mission, send new instructions or abort. If the link is jammed, the drone continues and completes its mission autonomously, within the parameters defined by the operator beforehand.
5-Was the HQ-9 decoy test limited to visual recognition, or did it include autonomous guidance under varied field conditions?
The test included both. The system autonomously detected and recognized the decoy, then guided the drone toward it, without GPS. It was part of a wider test campaign carried out over different terrain and lighting conditions, including night flights with a thermal camera. We will continue to expand these trials to more varied and demanding conditions.
6-What percentage of the components and technologies is developed locally, and what is your plan for establishing production and maintenance capabilities in Morocco?
100% of our technology is developed in-house by our Moroccan team, with zero outsourcing: GPS-free navigation, artificial intelligence, embedded software, airframe design and system integration. All the know-how, data and intellectual property belong to Ballistic Defense System.
For hardware, we deliberately use commercial, off-the-shelf civilian components, bought directly from manufacturers and interchangeable between suppliers. This keeps costs low and avoids dependence on any single foreign supplier. Every batch is fully inspected before integration. Over time, we plan to bring critical components in-house, such as electronics, payloads and propulsion.
Our plan is to establish an industrial facility for assembly, production and maintenance, supported by an industrial funding round and a first contract. The goal is to build a full national capability, from design to after-sales support, and to train Moroccan engineers and technicians along the way.
