French arms procurement agency DGA has selected the EADS Eagle 1 unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for the air force, and will equip the platform with Israeli/ French-developed payloads. The Eagle is a French development of the Israel Aircraft Industries Heron medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV.
France selected the Eagle over the RQ-1 Predator, offered by manufacturer General Atomics and its French partner Sagem.
The French air force is to acquire at least four Eagle 1s along with ground stations and a number of payloads. The request for proposals, issued last year, suggested five systems would be bought.
The Eagle was unveiled at the 1999 Paris air show by then Aerospatiale Matra Missiles with no indication it was a modified Heron.
The 50h endurance Eagle/ Heron is powered by a Bombardier Rotax 914 turbocharged piston engine but a developed version, the Eagle 2, is powered by a Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop. This boosts the maximum operating altitude to 45,000ft (13,700m) from Eagle 1's 32,000ft.
During tests in Israel, a Heron was operated using other UAVs to relay commands over long ranges and to download images.
Source: Flight International
