The industrial goal is to give European firms experience designing and building high-end UAVs and associated technologies, in order to keep them competitive in the global marketplace. Dassault unveiled a life-size model of nEUROn at the 2005 Paris Air Show. The operational UCAV is expected to be a larger design than the nEUROn demonstrator. The aircraft performs an air-to-ground mission in a network centric warfare. First flight took place on December 1, 2012.
This flying wing stealth UCAV project is the final phase of the French Dassault LOGIDUC 3-step stealth "combat drone" programme. Until June 2005 it had the form of the original Dassault developed Grand Duc vehicle: supersonic two-engined long-range unmanned bomber, capable of performing attacks with nuclear weapons. Under the pressure of the international cooperation, especially from Sweden and Saab, it was transformed into a demonstrator of smaller single-engine technology. The nEUROn development, originally planned by Dassault as "AVE Grand Duc", evolved into a European cooperation including Swedish Saab AB, Greek EAB, Swiss RUAG Aerospace, Spanish EADS CASA and Italian Alenia, with Dassault as the lead contractor. As a "technology demonstrator", only one vehicle will be produced to explore new operational concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighter aircraft that will be produced beyond 2020. However Dassault plans to primarily use the data collected by the demonstrator to produce derived UCAVs. The French maker states the nEUROn's Adour engine (tuned from the SEPECAT Jaguar) will be replaced in the production version by a more powerful, specific, engine based on Snecma's M88 from the Dassault Rafale.
In February 2006, the nEUROn programme was formally launched with the award, by the French DGA on behalf of the participating nations, of a contract to Dassault as prime contractor for the design and development of the nEUROn demonstrator. This began a 15-month feasibility phase. The French defence procurement agency (DGA) awarded a contract for a 19-month project definition phase in June 2007, followed by the production of a nEUROn demonstrator.
Following successful ground tests and first engine run up, nEUROn completed its maiden flight from the company's flight test base in Istres, France, in December 2012. The first flight test was conducted in collaboration with the flight test personnel of the DGA.
Dassault Aviation conducted a formation flight of the nEUROn UCAV with a Rafale fighter and a Falcon 7X business jet in March 2014, marking the world's first operation in which a combat drone flew in formation with other aircraft.
In February 2006, DGA had announced that France will provide €202.5 million, half of the program's €405 million ($480 million) budget, while the remaining funds will be supplied by the other participating member nations. In December 2005, the Swedish defence ministry reported the national share would be €75 million, of which €66 million would be financed by Saab AB. The cost of Spain's participation to the program is estimated at €35.5 million, spread over the 2007-2012 period.
Derived production UCAV unit cost is estimated by Dassault to be €25 million.
Dassault Aviation is the design authority with responsibility for the general design, system architecture, the flight control system and final assembly together with ground tests and flight tests. Dassault's UAV and UCAV design capability was developed under a sequence of experimental development and validation programmes, Aeronef validation experimental (AVE). Dassault started the AVE LogiDuc programme (AVE logistics to demonstrate UCAV) in 1999.
Saab Aerosystems, based in Linkoping, Sweden, is responsible for overall design, fuselage, avionics, fuel system, flight control, airworthiness, autonomy, multipayload capabilities, structural design and manufacture and ground and flight testing. Dassault Aviation received the front and central fuselage section of the nEUROn UCAV demonstrator from Saab on 25 January 2011. Saab has built strong capability in UAV and UCAV technology with the SHARC Swedish highly advanced research configuration demonstrator, FILUR flying innovative low-observable unmanned research UAV, the EuroMALE European medium-altitude long-endurance UAV with EADS and the establishment of the Link Lab drone development centres, a joint venture with Linkoping University. Technology development on the nEUROn programme would be applicable to planned upgrades of the Saab Gripen fighter aircraft, which is expected to remain in service until about 2035.
Ruag in Switzerland is responsible for the weapons interface and wind tunnel testing.
Alenia Aeronautica in Italy is responsible for the development of the electrical power system, the air data system, development of the Smart Weapon Bay, and for flight testing. It delivered the weapon bay doors and mechanism of the nEUROn demonstrator to Dassault Aviation in May 2011. During 2005, Turkey formally applied to take part in the EADS MALE medium-altitude long-endurance UAV programme and the Dassault-led nEUROn programme. An attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) is supplied by the LITEF, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman to the nEUROn UCAV. The LCR-100 Gyrocompass AHRS is a north-finding attitude and heading reference system based on a fibre-optic gyro and micro-electromechanical (MEMS) accelerometers.
The nEUROn is of similar appearance to the AVE-C which is the second prototype of the Dassault Petit Duc and which has high-manoeuvrability unstable yaw aircraft control. Like the Ave-C, the nEUROn has no tail fin and a swept W-shaped wing design. The system incorporates highly advanced avionics, stealth and network-centric technologies. Simulations and flight tests demonstrate the capability of flight in controlled airspaces and the operation of the Neuron in a network-centric battlefield environment.
The air vehicle fuselage length and the wingspan are approximately 10m. The empty weight of the air vehicle is around 4,500kg and with a full payload the weight will be about 6,000kg. The air vehicle has tricycle-type landing gear for runway take-off and landing.
nEUROn will have the capability to carry two laser guided 250kg (550lb) bombs in two weapon bays. The air vehicle is expected to have an endurance of several hours and high subsonic speed i.e. a maximum speed of Mach 0.7 to Mach 0.8. The unmanned nEUROn is controlled from ground-based stations and from control stations in combat aircraft such as the French Rafale or the Swedish Gripen.
In June 2005, Thales was selected to develop the datalink system for nEUROn. The system connects the ground control station with the UCAV by a high-rate Nato standard STANAG 7085 datalink and a low-rate datalink: The high-rate datalink allows secure transmission of application data (video, imagery and radar) and air vehicle command and control data. The low-rate datalink uses secure technologies and a different frequency band to ensure data integrity.
The air vehicle is powered by two Adour mk951 jet engines from the Rolls Royce and Turbomeca joint venture RRTM. The Adour mk951 is already fitted on BAE Systems Hawk 128 aircraft. The air intake is in a flush dorsal position above the nose. The engine features a new fan and combustor and is also equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) which reduces the workload of the pilot by performing automated operations. The maximum speed of the aircraft varies between Mach 0.7 and 0.8. Neuron weighs around 4,500kg and its maximum take-off weight 6,000kg.
Specifications
General characteristics
Crew:
0
Length:
9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Wingspan:
12.5 m (41 ft 0 in)
Empty weight:
4900 kg (10803 lb)
Gross weight:
7000 kg (15432 lb)
Powerplant:
1 × Rolls-Royce/Turboméca Adour / Snecma M88, 40 kN (8992 lbf) thrust each
Performance
Maximum speed:
980 km/h ( mph)
Service ceiling:
14,000 m (45900 ft)
Armament
2 × 230 kg (500 lb) guided bombs
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