EADS has decisively shifted its Advanced UAV concept to a long-winged, high-altitude, long-loitering surveillance model, dropping consideration of a faster and short-winged recon variant, said Hervé Guillou, head of the Defense and Security France division.

The design change grew out of a 15-month risk-reduction study EADS is preparing under a joint 60 million euro ($77 million) Advanced UAV project funded by France, Germany, and Spain. Germany flies a version of the Tornado strike fighter for low-level reconnaissance, and the main Advanced UAV missions required by France and Germany are surveillance. Advanced UAV is competing against a rival offer from Dassault Aviation, Thales, and Indra that uses the Israeli Heron TP medium-altitude, long-endurance drone. Thales is banking on urgent military needs in the Afghan theater to win a sale to France and Spain.

Guillou said the competition represents Europe's effort to erase a 10-year capability gap in building UAVs, a business dominated by American and Israeli industry. The risk-reduction work confirms that EADS can "satisfy the requirement in line with the planning and costs proposed," said Guillou. The risk reduction study has allowed the three chiefs of staffs to converge on their operating requirements. Under the EADS proposal, a first flight would be made in 2013, with delivery of a qualified Advanced UAV in 2015. The craft would be equipped with a mission system comprising new electronically scanned radar, electro-optronics, satellite communications and be capable of flying in civil airspace. The expected budget is 2.2 billion euros, for 10 systems, with a French share of 800 million euros of investment, EADS said.

(Source: Defense News, Pierre Tran)