European UCAV efforts pick up pace

摘要

Europe is accelerating its efforts to earn a place at the top table in the expanding unmanned air vehicle (UAV) arena, including the top-end UCAV segment. Efforts to gather European resources around a single programme took a concrete step forward with the long-awaited formal launch of the Neuron UCAV technology demonstrator programme by six European countries. The French MoD's DGA procurement arm, which is running the programme, concluded a contract with prime contractor Dassault on 8 February. Neuron — first proposed by French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie at the 2003 Paris Air Show — had initially targeted an official launch in September 2004. Proponents of the programme, however, have sought to put a positive spin on this by underlining that the 15-month delay has given time to sign up additional partners and to expand the initial programme budget by ?100 million, to ?405 million — half of which will be supplied by Paris.