After years of delays and conflicts, the Eurodrone will finally see the light of day.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain signed the contract on Thursday to develop this future drone, in particular intended to no longer depend on the American Reaper.
The contract was notified to Airbus, the industrial leader of the project.
The Italian Leonardo and the French Dassault Aviation are also taking part.
Worth 7.1 billion euros, the project provides for the development of the device, the delivery of 60 drones (20 systems) and their maintenance for five years.
Germany has ordered seven systems, Italy five, France and Spain four each.
The contract to develop the European drone Eurodrone officially signedhttps://t.co/0tDCHrxRpq pic.twitter.com/Tf6i47Uiqd
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Sovereignty of European industry
The first flight is scheduled for 2026 and the first deliveries in 2028, said Jean-Brice Dumont, head of military aircraft at Airbus.
With a twin-engine wingspan of 30 m and a take-off weight of 10 tonnes, the Eurodrone will provide surveillance and even air strike capability for around twenty hours.
It must also be able to fit into civil air traffic.
"This program will create the most advanced drone system in its class, generate more than 7,000 highly skilled jobs and strengthen the sovereignty of European industry," Airbus Defense and Space President Mike Schoellhorn said in a statement. communicated.
Drones around the world
Launched in 2015 after the failure of several previous European programs, the Eurodrone should allow Europeans to catch up in the field of remotely piloted flying machines.
It must also make it possible to free oneself from dependence vis-à-vis the American Reaper or Israeli Heron, with which the four countries are equipped.
The Americans are already preparing the successor to the Reaper, which will be more durable and more stealthy.
Turkey, for its part, has made the export of its TB2 drones, used in particular during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020, a lever of its international influence.
Worrying delays
The program benefits from European Union funding of 100 million euros.
The contract signed Thursday was expected at the end of 2019, but the negotiations between the States and the industrialists, on prices in particular, were rough.
Germany obtained that the drone be twin-engine, when France only wanted one so that the device would be lighter and less expensive.
Paris, on the other hand, wanted the device to be armed: 58% of the airstrikes carried out in 2020 by the French army were carried out by drones.
The delay of the project has worried in France.
“Even if the performances of the Eurodrone should be clearly superior to those of the Reaper […], it is to be feared that at the time of its delivery, they will be, due to delays […], out of step with the latest technologies” , said senators in a report in June 2021.
“We do not intend to arrive with the drone the day before yesterday when it returns to service”, reassured Jean-Brice Dumont.
The program is now launched, Airbus must still decide on its engine and choose between the Italian Avio Aero, a subsidiary of the American General Electric, and the French Safran.
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