C-DRONE GUIDE · 5 AUGUST 2026
All-risks insurance for a professional drone: equipment cover, theft, prices
An €8,000 RTK drone fitted with a €3,000 thermal camera that hits an obstacle, catches fire on the ground or disappears in a flyaway over a forest is a straight loss of several thousand euros — one that professional liability insurance never reimburses: liability cover only pays for damage caused to third parties, not the operator's own equipment. This guide covers the other half of the subject, optional but often decisive: insuring the drone and its payload — damage, hull cover, theft. What it covers, what it excludes, how its price is set, and when it stops being a luxury and becomes a cash-flow necessity.
Published on 5 August 2026, reviewed on 6 August 2026 — regulations in force as of August 2026.
Liability and equipment cover: two policies, two purposes
Article L. 6131-1 of the French transport code requires every unmanned aircraft operator to hold insurance covering their liability towards third parties: bodily and material damage caused on the ground or in flight by the drone. This liability cover, detailed in our dedicated guide, protects the victim of an accident — not the pilot who loses their aircraft. If a drone crashes into an empty field, touching nothing and no one, liability insurance pays nothing: the operator alone absorbs the loss of their equipment, unless they have taken out a separate policy, usually called hull or equipment (bris de machine) insurance.
This second cover remains optional under air law, but it becomes effectively indispensable as soon as the equipment's value exceeds what a small business's cash flow can absorb in one go: a set of batteries, a LiDAR sensor or a professional thermal camera is often worth more than the drone itself. A study by Ghasri and Maghrebi published in 2021 in Safety Science, based on the analysis of several hundred drone accidents and incidents in Australia, identifies equipment failures and poor coordination between aerial activities as two of the most frequent cause categories (see the study on Google Scholar) — a reminder that equipment loss is not a marginal scenario but a regular feature of professional operations.
What a hull policy covers — and what it excludes
A well-designed hull / equipment policy generally covers:
- In-flight breakage: collision, loss of control, a crash caused by motor, battery or software failure.
- Total loss by flyaway: the drone drifts out of control and is never recovered — a frequent claim over wooded areas or water.
- Theft and vandalism, subject to security conditions (locked case, closed vehicle) — insurers often require proof of forced entry.
- Fire and water damage to stored equipment.
- Declared accessories: batteries, radio controller, photogrammetric sensor, LiDAR or thermal camera — provided they are explicitly listed and valued in the contract; never covered by default.
The standard exclusions deserve a careful read before signing: flying outside the framework declared to the DGAC (beyond VLOS without a BVLOS authorisation, an unregistered drone), normal wear on propellers and batteries, a claim occurring under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and often a battery age cap: their chemical degradation accelerates with charge cycles, a phenomenon documented by Petritoli, Leccese and Ciani in a 2018 study published in Sensors on drone reliability and maintenance, which identifies power-supply and autopilot-module failures as major breakdown causes (see the study on Google Scholar) — many insurers rely on this kind of finding to exclude batteries beyond a set number of cycles or years.
When it becomes essential, how to choose well
Three situations make equipment insurance a near-obligation in practice:
- Financed or leased equipment: a leasing contract or a drone rental agreement almost always requires proof of all-risks cover in the lessor's name, on pain of termination.
- A high-value payload: a professional RTK/PPK sensor or LiDAR module can alone be worth tens of thousands of euros — losing it uninsured far exceeds the margin earned over months of missions.
- A fleet of several aircraft: beyond two or three drones, the odds of a claim occurring within the year become statistically significant, and a single fleet policy costs proportionally less than a sum of individual contracts.
To choose well, three points to check systematically: the declared value (new-for-old or depreciated — the difference runs into hundreds of euros on a three-year-old aircraft), the deductible (often 10 to 20% of the claim, negotiable against a higher premium), and the coverage area (mainland France only, or an extension to overseas territories and the EU for cross-border missions). These trade-offs follow the same logic as choosing between bringing a drone in-house or outsourcing: the cost of insurance belongs in the overall cost of ownership, not just its sticker premium.
2026 prices
Orders of magnitude observed in France in 2026 (excl. VAT):
- Liability cover alone (see our dedicated guide): €150 to €900 per year depending on the cover ceiling.
- Hull/equipment cover on a drone alone (excluding a high-value payload): a few tens to a few hundred euros per year depending on the insured value and chosen deductible.
- Full cover (drone + high-value professional payload, theft and flyaway included): up to €1,500 to €2,500 per year for high-end equipment — an aircraft fitted with a thermal camera or a LiDAR module typically costs three to four times more to insure than an entry-level RGB drone of comparable purchase value.
- Fleet of several aircraft: quoted case by case as a single fleet policy, generally tapering beyond the third insured drone.
Declared flying hours, past claims history and the type of activity (low-altitude photogrammetry, industrial inspection in confined environments, flying near infrastructure) move the premium within these ranges. Request a quote for your project stating the equipment used: it is also a good moment to check that your provider itself carries up-to-date liability and hull cover.