What the French Know About Drones That Americans Don't
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Corentin Roland watches a winged drone land in his field of rapeseed, his hands dug into trouser pockets in the damp winter chill outside the village of Montepilloy on the plains of northern France.
The unmanned aircraft, a black and yellow V-wing the span of a small seagull, has just finished a nine-minute flight over the 15-hectare (37-acre) plot. Within two days, a Paris-based company called Airinov will send the 23-year-old farmer an e-mail with a fertilizer plan for the field based on the gathered data.