Agency’s surprise move opens door to rival contenders
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is to launch a long-endurance unmanned air vehicle research and technology development programme and has dampened long-standing industry expectations that it will take over the EADS-led Euromale UAV programme.
A call for proposals for the research programme is to be issued on 6 July, leading to project selections late this year. Dealing an apparent blow to EADS and the Euromale, the EDA says no decisions have been made on management of any common European defence development programmes. The agency is also playing down potential linkages between the Euromale programme and the new research and technology initiative.
EADS officials had been saying publicly since May that negotiations were under way with the EDA on it taking over management of the Euromale in the near term (Flight International, 10-16 May).
The EDA’s deputy director for research and technology, Dr Octavia Frota, says: “I have to bluntly say that at this stage we do not have any decision on running any of the major ongoing programmes. More than that, the technology demonstration programme that we are going to launch is not for the moment related to any other programme.”
Frota told the Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Unmanned Systems 2005 conference in Paris last week that “at this stage we cannot say, and no-one can say, that the EDA is going to run this or that because we need to gather information to know exactly what are we getting in to. We are trying to gather information on all the ongoing programmes.”
The draft UAV technology roadmap will initially focus on mapping European UAV demonstrator programmes. The agency will then explore opportunities “for the harmonisation of requirements in terms of capability and interoperability of these systems. We need to identify technological gaps of common interest to avoid duplication of funding and effort that could possibly become technology demonstration projects under EDA,” says Frota.
Potential technology areas that could be explored by the programme include automatic take- off and landing, sense and avoid systems, airworthiness, simulation and training, power generation, imaging sensors, miniaturisation of payloads, on-board data storage and datalink technology.
PETER LA FRANCHI/PARIS
Source: Flight International
