Drone flights: when and how do you notify the French Ministry of the Armed Forces?

Two cases, and only two, call for a prior notification to the Ministère des Armées. It replaces no other formality: it informs the military crews who fly low, it is not an authorisation.

• Every flight beyond the remote pilot's sight, wherever and at whatever height it takes place, even far from any military area (DGAC Specific category guide, §21.2; French airspace order of 3 December 2020, Article 6).
• In a military low-level training area, during its activity hours: every flight of a drone over 900 g, at any height, and every beyond-sight flight (DGAC Specific category guide, §19.6; DGAC Open category guide, §6.2).

In other words, a visual-line-of-sight flight with a drone under 900 g remains possible in these areas without notification or prior authorisation; in the Open category, it stays below the reduced maximum heights these areas set (DGAC Open category guide, §6.2). Above 900 g, the notification is the condition for flying there, in the Open category as in the Specific category: military pilots are expected to avoid collisions by sight, which a drone cannot guarantee.

These areas are published in the AIP France, En-route part, sub-part ENR 5.3.1.3.1, on the SIA website (AIP tab, then eAIP France, then the eAIP in force). The restrictions apply only from Monday to Friday, at the hours stated, where applicable, in those publications. Outside those days and hours the 900 g rule no longer applies — the notification of every beyond-sight flight still does.

Two other military airspaces follow a different logic, and this is the most common confusion. The notification informs; here, in the Specific category you need an agreement before flying, and in the Open category flying there is forbidden.

• The very-low-altitude network (RTBA): its restricted areas host military flights at very high speed, where the pilot cannot ensure avoidance. In the Specific category, entering them requires prior agreement during activity hours (§19.1 and §19.6 of the DGAC Specific category guide). A day's activity hours are published the day before from 17:00 on the SIA website (AZBA maps), or on the freephone number 0800 24 54 66 on the day itself.
• A CTR controlled by a unit of the Ministère des Armées (Avord, Cazaux, Istres, Landivisiau, Salon, Villacoublay…): in the Specific category, that unit's prior agreement is required before any flight, in sight or beyond, and may be conditional on a protocol.

A beyond-sight flight in a military CTR therefore needs both: the military unit's agreement, and the notification on AlphaTango.

The DGAC guide (§19.6) counts in aeronautical days, which start at 08:00, Paris time. A flight scheduled to start between 08:00 on day D and 08:00 the next day is notified at the earliest on day D-2 at 04:00 and at the latest on day D at 04:00, Paris time.

The trap is the early flight: a flight at 06:00 belongs to the previous day's aeronautical day, and its slot moves back one day. Three examples for a flight on the 15th:

• A notification covers a slot of 12 hours at most. Within that slot it may cover several flights; if the planned flights spread over more than 12 hours, several notifications are needed.
• The Ministry of the Armed Forces does not answer the notification: there is no agreement to wait for, the flight goes ahead as notified.

The notification must be made online on the AlphaTango portal (DGAC guide, §19.6): no email, no paper form. It requires an operator account and registered drones — see our AlphaTango guide.

1. 1Sign in to the AlphaTango portal;
2. 2Enter a notification from My professional activity, over a slot of 12 hours at most;
3. 3Submit it within the slot, in Paris time;
4. 4Keep the record of the submission with the mission file.

You can also entrust your notifications to a delegate who submits them on your behalf, or use the AlphaTango API.

• Notified too early, days ahead as for the prefecture (ten working days): the slot only opens on day D-2 at 04:00.
• Notified too late: on the morning of the flight, after 04:00. The slot closes on day D at 04:00.
• Forgetting that the day starts at 08:00: a flight at 06:00 is notified at the latest the day before at 04:00.
• Declaring a slot longer than 12 hours: it must be split into several notifications.
• Forgetting a beyond-sight flight far from any military area: the notification is due everywhere.
• Confusing it with the prefecture declaration: that one covers flights over populated areas, with ten working days' notice. They are two separate formalities, and one flight may require both.