Paris (AFP)

The European drone project Eurodrone is struggling: the "rough" negotiations between States and industrialists stumble on the expected performance and the cost of the program, raising the question of the "price of sovereignty" to be paid in the face of competition from the American Reaper .

The previous European programs aiming to bring out a MALE (Medium altitude, long endurance) drone sector ended in failure. And the "signals of uncertainty" are increasing on this new attempt bringing together Germany, France, Italy and Spain, points the French Court of Auditors in its annual report Tuesday.

Because the Eurodrone will not be at any price, warns for several months the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly. "Rough negotiations are underway with the industry," summed up the French Delegate General for Armaments (DGA) Joël Barre before the senators in October.

Since then, the development contract, expected for the end of 2019, has still not been signed. "We want a fair, reasonable price. At this stage we have not yet completely," said the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. "Industrialists must not think that this project, as emblematic of European cooperation as it is, is + too big to fail + (too important to fail)".

According to sources familiar with the matter, Paris is considering a ceiling budget of seven billion euros for this project.

Airbus is the industrial leader with French partners Dassault and Italian Leonardo.

Launched in 2015, the Eurodrone is supposed to be operational from 2028. It will provide surveillance or even air strike capacity for around twenty hours, while being able to integrate into civil air traffic, a Challenge for automated and remotely controlled devices.

Ms. Parly is due to take stock of the project with her teams on March 2. "Then France will adopt a position which it will consult with the Spanish, the Italians and the Germans", according to his ministry.

According to this source, the objective is "to have a device whose operational performance is at least greater than or equal to what can be found on the American market today".

- "Exorbitant requests" -

Time is running out as the Americans have been offering a drone, the Reaper, for several years, of which France has already acquired 12 copies, Italy six and Spain four.

However, the different specifications required for the Eurodrone by the different partners do not help. Germany got it to be twin-engine when France wanted only one.

"With two engines and a weight of ten tons, this drone will be too heavy, too expensive and therefore difficult to export. We need this drone in Mali (...), the Germans, them, wish to make urban surveillance over their territory, "denounced a few months ago Christian Cambon, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.

"The states are not serious in their requests. When there are exorbitant requests, the price is", laments one of the industrialists, who enjoins the states to be "more precise" in the specifications required to avoid chaotic development similar to that of the A400M transport aircraft.

For General Atomics, the manufacturer of the Reaper, it is a nice "window of opportunity": the American industrialist proposed in October in Paris the "off-the-shelf purchase" of a modernized Reaper or the acquisition of a another version, called Euro Guardian, says its director for Europe, Christophe Fontaine.

Available from 2023 for "half the cost of the Eurodrone" according to him, the Euro Guardian would have Americans only the platform and the cockpit. All sensors, cryptology systems and links could be "francized", he explains.

The boss of Airbus Defense and Space, Dirk Hoke, wants to be "very optimistic" about the future of the Eurodrone. "We are going to have discussions but I think we will get there," he said in mid-February.

"The big question that arises is the price of sovereignty," says Cédric Perrin, senator of the Defense Commission.

"Are we able to put double the price or do we want to continue buying American with the limits of sovereignty that this includes", he argues, while considering that "for political reasons, we will have no other choice "than to pursue the Eurodrone.

© 2020 AFP