On February 24, 2022, the Airbus group and the European Procurement Organization for Joint Cooperation in the field of armaments (Organization Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'Armement - OCCAR) at the Airbus enterprise in Manching (Germany) signed a joint contract for the development of a European advanced reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicle of long duration flight Eurodrone. The contract includes the development, construction and testing of a prototype of an unmanned complex, serial production of 20 unmanned complexes (each complex will include three UAVs and two ground stations) and technical support for the first five years in operation. The parent company for the creation of this UAV, Airbus Defense and Space (the military division of the Airbus group), signed a contract on behalf of three main national subcontractors: Airbus Defense and Space SAU (Spain), Dassault Aviation (France) and Leonardo (Italy), and OCCAR signed a contract on behalf of four starting customer countries - Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Project image of the European advanced reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicle of long duration flight Eurodrone (c) Airbus
The cost of the contract is not officially disclosed, but previously the cost of the Eurodrone program in the specified parameters (R&D, one prototype and 20 serial complexes) was estimated at 7.1 billion euros. Now the planned date of the first flight of the first prototype is set for 2025 and the arrival of the first serial complexes into service is 2028. The assembly of the device will be carried out at the Airbus enterprise in Manching (Germany).
To date, as it was said, four participating countries have contracted 20 unmanned complexes (60 UAVs), including Germany - seven, Italy - five, France and Italy - four each.
The program for the creation of a large European UAV under the initial designation of European Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft (MALE RPAS, also EuroMALE), was launched under an agreement dated May 2015 by Airbus. Leonardo and Dassault Aviation (at first with equal participation) with the official support and funding of the governments of Germany, France, Italy and Spain, and is carried out under the auspices of the European agency OCCAR. Initially, the deadline for UAV entry into service was set for 2025.
The public presentation of the UAV advance project layout took place in April 2018 at the international aerospace exhibition 2018 ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin. In October 2018, OCCAR formally selected Airbus as the lead contractor for the creation and production of UAVs, called Eurodrone, but as a result, the contract for full-scale R&D and serial production was signed only now, more than three years later.
Eurodrone should be a large UAV with a maximum take-off weight of 11 tons, a payload weight of up to 2300 kg, a wingspan of 26 m and a length of 16 m. The cruising speed should be up to 500 km / h, and the ceiling - up to 13700 m. The device should be equipped with two tail turboprop engines in the 1500 hp power class with pushing screws and carry guided weapons. The type of engines has not yet been selected, Safran Helicopter Engines Ardiden TP3 (the most likely option) and General Electric Catalist (offered by the Italian company Avio) are considered as options. The unmanned complex will use a satellite communication system. From the very beginning, the project of this UAV was criticized as "over-sized" and too heavy, including due to the impossibility of using this UAV from field sites.
Infographics and design image of the European advanced reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicle of long duration flight Eurodrone (c) Airbus
