|
. | . |
|
by Staff Writers Brussels (AFP) May 18, 2015 A European project to build a military drone by 2025 took wing on Monday as Germany, France and Italy signed a deal to start technical work and end their reliance on US- and Israeli-made models. The scheme for a pilotless aircraft built by the three EU powers could be worth up to a billion euros ($1.2 billion) if it gets airborne, officials said after the deal was signed in Brussels. "The goal of the Euro-drone is that we can decide by ourselves in Europe on what we use it, where we deploy the Euro-drone and how we use it," German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said. "This makes us, the Europeans, independent." For a decade, European powers have tried and failed to come up with a common drone project, meaning that Britain, Italy and France currently use US-made Reaper drones. Germany and France also use Israeli-built machines. The three countries first agreed to cooperate on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2013. The medium-altitude, long-endurance European drone will be designed for intelligence and reconnaissance missions and will be able to carry a "variety of payloads," according to a statement after the signing. Airbus, France's Dassault Aviation and Italy's Alenia Aermacchi are behind the proposal. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the Euro-drone deal was a "very important step for European cooperation." Other European countries including Spain and Poland could get involved at a later stage, officials said. The two-year technical assessment will try to find common ground between Germany, France and italy on operational needs, performance, timing and cost, they said. axr-dk/bmm/gj
Related Links UAV News - Suppliers and Technology
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |