France, Germany and Spain Agree on Advanced UAV for ISTAR

Released on Thursday, May 28, 2009

The concluding review meeting of representatives from the customer nations France, Germany and Spain and EADS Defence & Security (DS) has officially marked the end of the risk reduction study for the tri-national Advanced UAV. This was announced on 28 May by DS, which conducted the trilateral study. "The common understanding between the partners for the joint Advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) missions, as described in our study, is another stable pillar of European security", said Nicolas Chamussy, Senior Vice President for Mission Air Systems within the integrated DS business unit Military Air Systems (MAS). "The Advanced UAV project, once launched soon, will give our customers operational flexibility, a permanent awareness picture on critical security hot spots home or abroad, and autonomy from third parties' equipment and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) results", Chamussy stated.

"For the Risk Reduction Study, which we received in late 2007, a joint team of dedicated engineers from DS in France, Germany and Spain was working very hard to deliver a tailor-made solution satisfying the common needs for an Advanced UAV for the Armed Forces of France, Germany and Spain. The close dialogue with the customers around the Advanced UAV Battle-lab has proved a unmatched tool to harmonise requirements and optimise the solution", said Chamussy.

"Teamed with our partners for the radar, led by Thales in France, together with our business unit Defence Electronics, and Indra in Spain, the Advanced UAV will incorporate the most modern, modular sensor suite and data links, which are vital for sustainable and reliable ISTAR missions, which contemporary off-the-shelf platforms never can achieve. The twin-jet propulsion system of the Advanced UAV will not only supply ample on-board energy for the satellite communications, sensors and data links, but also safeguard secure flight conditions in the densely populated skies over Europe", Chamussy explained. "I firmly believe that we fully understood our customers' requirements, including their tight timeframe necessitated by the - 2 - requirement for then state-of-the-art ISTAR equipment, and we are fully committed to make the programme progress in line with our customers", he concluded.