The twin turboprop Sud Aviation SE-116 Voltigeur of the late 1950s was a French army support aircraft capable of observation and ground attack operations.

In 1958 France was in the middle of the Algerian War and felt a need for a counter-insurgency aircraft capable of observation, photography and ground support.

[4] Behind the wing trailing edge the fuselage carried perforated airbrakes[5] for ground attacks; the Voltigeur was fitted with two 20 mm (0.79 in) guns and six underwing attachment points for bombs and rockets.

A few weeks later, on 9 January 1959, Carpentier, Yves Crouzet and Marcel Hochet were killed when tail flutter developed in a high-speed run.

[3] After tests of the SE-117 first pre-production machine, conducted in collaboration with Marcel Dassault, the Voltigeur programme was abandoned along with a projected fast transport, the SE-118 Diplomate.