France and Germany are to begin formal government and industry talks on a common combined medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) and high-speed deep penetration unmanned air vehicle development programme based on the EADS "Advanced UAV" concept.
Defence acquisition authorities in both countries gave approvals for technical talks with EADS during the Paris air show. Spain is expected to add its signature during July.
The talks are aimed at launching a funded risk-reduction programme by the partner nations within the next three months. That would last for up to one year and be followed by design and production phases provided a common programme can be agreed.
EADS officials at the Paris air show said the programme was no longer focused on demonstration of technical capabilities, but rather achievement of a production standard system available for delivery within five years.
The technical talks are to focus on co-ordination of requirements between the three founding nations, including timings and specific capability matching. Industrial opportunities will also be explored, with preliminary concepts based on a three-way split of work co-ordinated around EADS's existing presence in each country.
Talks are also continuing with other European nations. Finland received its first formal technical briefings on the project late in 2006 with Insta and Patria already co-operating with EADS on datalinks for the new aircraft.
Advanced UAV is based on a common core 10.3m (34ft)-long fuselage with modular mission packages allowing the air vehicle to be adapted for different roles. The aircraft would be powered by twin turbofan engines.
In its MALE configuration the fuselage would be mated with a 25.25m-span wing with a Ku-band satellite terminal mounted on the upper nose.
The same airframe could be turned into a deep reconnaissance version by fitting a 9.05m-span wing and removing the satellite housing. A modular payload bay would support different sensor packages selected on the basis of mission requirements.
Selectable software tuning would be used to optimise the propulsion system to match the airframe configuration.
Data released by EADS at the Paris air show says the MALE version would cruise at 46,000ft and have an endurance of 17h on station at a deployment range of 925km (500nm). It would be capable of 5.3h endurance at a range of 4,620km. The deep penetration version would be capable of flying at altitudes down to 1,000ftAGL.
The Advanced UAV programme would build on initial development work conducted by EADS on its Barracuda technology demonstrator, superseding any further efforts on that platform. The sole Barracuda was lost off the coast of Spain in September last year.
Related stories
Source: Flight International
