First
successfully flight of stealth Drone NEURON Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
demonstrator.
The
Neuron stealth combat drone UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) demonstrator
successfully made its first flight, Saturday, December 1, 21012. The Neuron
demonstrator which has the the size of a fighter aircraft, took off from
the military air base of Istres in France. It was operated by a technical
team of Dassaut Aviation.
Stealth drone
NEURON UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) during take-off in military
air base of Istres, France.
Technical
experts from the DGA (French Ministry of Defense – Defense Procurement
Agency) have taken control of the airspace where NEURON has evolved. This
control ensures that these flights are conducted safely in relation to
other airspace users as well as compliance with regulations.
This flight is a major milestone in this ambitious project, and opens
the way for next campaigns flight tests in Italy, Sweden and France. These
tests are intended to demonstrate the flying capacities of the platform,
but also to assess the stealth and combat skills.
The aircraft will continue to be tested in France until 2014 when it moves
to Vidsel, Sweden for operational trials, and, finally, to the Perdadesfogu
range Italy to measure stealth characteristics and live-firing tests.
The DGA provides overall project management of Neuron UCAV notified in
2006. It is the result of European cooperation including France together
with Dassault Aviation as prime contractor,and five countries and their
industrial partners: Italy (Alenia Aeronautica), Sweden (Saab), Spain
(Eads-Casa), Greece (HAI) and Switzerland (Ruag).
Financed from the research budget of French Ministry of Defence, NEURON
marks a major research efforts and the technology to maintain essential
industrial skills. He inaugurated the next generation of combat aircraft,
whether manned or unmanned, with the aim of preserving European autonomy
in this area. This is a major challenge on both engineering and industrial
technologies.
Video
NEURON UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) demonstrator first flight
The
nEUROn is the first large size stealth platform designed in Europe. Building
on the experience gained from recent projects, for the first time in a
military project, the nEUROn is designed and developed within the frame
of a completely integrated “Product Lifecycle Management”
(PLM) environment, through a “virtual plateau”, allowing Dassault
Aviation and its partners, located in the different countries, to simultaneously
work together on the same design data base, independently from the location
where the design activities are currently performed.
With a length of 10 meters, a wingspan of 12.5 meters and an empty weight
of 5 tons, the aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca “Adour”
engine.
Stealth drone
NEURON UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) during its first flight in Istres,
France.
On
Wednesday December 19, 2012, Dassault Aviation organized a flight demonstration
of the nEUROn at Istres, for the French and foreign authorities involved
in the program.
