Meet nEUROn: Europe's first ever stealth drone. For the last five years, aircraft giants from France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Greece and Switzerland have been working together to develop this unmanned military jet.
Now, the drone is finally finished and has been shown off to representatives of those six participating countries, at a presentation in France. Engine tests will be performed very soon, and the group is aiming for flights in mid-2012.
The tests will guarantee nEUROn's flight capabilities and stealthiness, check out its air-to-ground weapon firing, and see how well it integrates into a C4i environment (command, communication control, computer and intelligence).
This UAV will never go into combat, or even into production. It's simply a testbed to show how different European nations -- all led by French flight outfit Dassault Aviation -- can work together, and a way to explore new concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighters.
Charles Edelstenne, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, said it's now up to European governments to put the lessons learned from nEUROn into play, and start building real, follow-up drones for 2020 and beyond.
Even more disappointingly, that glaring red eye in the photograph is just a cover. It won't really stalk the skies during its test flights with a giant crimson peeper. Big shame.
Now, the drone is finally finished and has been shown off to representatives of those six participating countries, at a presentation in France. Engine tests will be performed very soon, and the group is aiming for flights in mid-2012.
The tests will guarantee nEUROn's flight capabilities and stealthiness, check out its air-to-ground weapon firing, and see how well it integrates into a C4i environment (command, communication control, computer and intelligence).
This UAV will never go into combat, or even into production. It's simply a testbed to show how different European nations -- all led by French flight outfit Dassault Aviation -- can work together, and a way to explore new concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighters.
Charles Edelstenne, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, said it's now up to European governments to put the lessons learned from nEUROn into play, and start building real, follow-up drones for 2020 and beyond.
Even more disappointingly, that glaring red eye in the photograph is just a cover. It won't really stalk the skies during its test flights with a giant crimson peeper. Big shame.
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