With the completion of its 100th flight in February, the European nEUROn Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator h...
With the completion of its 100th flight in February, the European nEUROn Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator has completed its test campaign in France.
The demonstrator has been flying since December 1 2012. Further evaluations will take place in Italy and then in Sweden.
The program is led by Dassault Aviation as prime contractor under the authority of French defense procurement agency DGA. It federates expertise from across Europe, consisting of French industrial firms Thales and EADS France, Saab (Sweden), EAB (Greece), Alenia (Italy), RUAG Aerospace (Switzerland) and EADS CASA (Spain).
The nEUROn, in full stealth configuration, was operated by Dassault. In the first phase, the purpose of the tests was to open the flight envelope (including with weapon bay doors open), to test the electro-optical sensor and to evaluate datalink performance.
In the second phase, most flights were dedicated to infrared and electromagnetic signature/detection confrontations against operational systems.
Stealth-related data and feedback will serve as a reference for future aircraft projects.
The nEUROn program is designed to validate the development of complex technologies representing all mission systems: high-level flight control and stealth, launching real air-to-ground weapons from an internal bay, integration in the C4I environment, innovative industrial collaboration processes, etc.
The demonstrator reportedly measures 10 m long, 12 m wide and weighs 5 tons. It is powered by a single Rolls Royce Adour turbofan engine, which powered the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar fighter.
