Visitors with an eye for unmanned systems could be excused for thinking Europe has wound down efforts to establish sovereign control of this critical enabler of 21st Century air power. But while the big exhibitors aren't yet in position to show off shiny new systems at Le Bourget, work continues apace to bring to a close an era of reliance on American and Israeli technology.
Among programmes with substantial political and industrial backing is the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Development work by France and the UK has industry on both sides of the Channel striving to determine the shape of this future capability. In March 2016, the leaders of the two countries committed a further £1.54 billion ($2.01 billion) to the effort to take the programme to a second phase, which followed on from a two-year feasibility study stage that began when the programme kicked off in 2014. The second phase of the programme has not yet started, but interim work is being carried out as risk reduction until the second phase is officially contracted.
Italy's Leonardo is also involved, on the electronics. “For FCAS, we’ve completed the initial two-year feasibility study on the sensing systems,” a spokesperson told FlightGlobal. “We’re now working with Thales on an interim phase to mature technologies, develop industrial capability, and conduct preparatory work in advance of the circa €2 billion [€1 billion per nation] UK-France demonstration programme, contracting for which is due this year.”
Led by BAE Systems and Dassault, from the UK and France respectively, the second phase of the FCAS programme will see the eventual assembly of two full-scale demonstrators. These will be used for test and evaluation, with the aim of producing an operational system by 2030. Other similar efforts in Europe to develop an unmanned combat air vehicle include the Dassault-led Neuron programme and the BAE-led Taranis effort, both of which have been in the works for a number of years.
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The pan-European Neuron development had effectively come to an end, until a boost was offered to the programme in May 2016 when France’s DGA procurement agency announced it was going to carry out maritime testing of the demonstrator to include the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. While it marked a change in direction – and a boost in terms of continuation – for the programme, it is unlikely that the UCAV would have been operated from the carrier throughout the testing, which was due to continue into 2017.
Another European programme underway is a multinational effort to develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV, which has France, Germany and Italy working to introduce a sovereign system that will roll out in the 2025 timeframe. The industry players leading the effort are Dassault, Airbus Defence & Space and Leonardo respectively.
In September 2016, it was announced that a definition phase had begun that would pave the way for a development phase beginning in 2018. This would lead to the first flight of a prototype in 2023, and deliveries of the armed UAV in 2025. The definition phase began during a meeting chaired by the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, and it was concluded that air traffic integration and certification for the dense European airspace were key objectives of the future development.
“This is a significant milestone for the European defence industry,” then-Leonardo chief executive Mauro Moretti said at the time. “At a time when Europe is debating how to address the issue of sovereignty and technological autonomy of new-generation remotely piloted systems, Leonardo-Finmeccanica is ready to play a leading role.”
He added that the technologies and applications that companies like Leonardo have developed will contribute to this new aircraft, thus “allowing Europe to reduce its growing dependence on equipment produced outside Europe".
Until then, nations are focusing on the interest of their individual fleets. Italy is developing its own indigenous MALE UAV, the Piaggio Aero P180 Avanti II-derived P.1HH Hammerhead UAV. Development was well underway and supported by Italian industry including Leonardo, with the United Arab Emirates committing to purchase eight examples in March 2016 under a deal worth €316 million ($354 million).
Unfortunately, in May 2016 a prototype crashed into the sea near Sicily. The twin-pusher UAV was operating from Vincenzo Florio airport in Trapani, Sicily, and it was said to have lost communication with its ground control station, after which it crashed into the Mare di Levanzo around 4.3nm (8km) north of Isola di Levanzo island.
Piaggio has provided little detail on the crash, but the event did not put the project in good stead as development was due to be concluding soon after the crash.
Despite these efforts, the mainstay of MALE military UAV operations in Europe is still the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1/MQ-9 Predator/Reaper family. Operated by France, Italy, Spain and the UK – with the Netherlands still trying to acquire the funding to secure the purchase of one system – the UAV is a significant part of Western European NATO fleets.
Moves to end dependence on the American system include Germany’s search for a leased MALE UAV capability as an interim step until a sovereign European system is developed. A requirement of this arrangement is to partner with German industry. Israel Aerospace Industries won the tender with its Heron TP, which it was pitching alongside Airbus Defence & Space, the same teaming that has seen the former’s Heron UAV leased to Germany for a number of years. However, General Atomics and partner RUAG objected to the selection, and took a claim against the German government to a high court, on the basis that there was not an open competition for the tender.
The UK, meanwhile, which already operates ten Block 1 MQ-9 examples, became the launch customer for General Atomics’ Certifiable Predator B under the nation’s Protector programme in 2016. While still acquiring the American system, the UK is notably looking to integrate British weapons on the UAV, something which it has so far failed to do on the incumbent fleet. These include the MBDA Brimstone air-to-ground missile, as well as the Raytheon UK Paveway IV laser-guided bomb.
There are also plans to set up training for Protector in-country, which would be a step away from reliance on US Air Force training that is currently carried out at Holloman AFB in New Mexico and Creech AFB in Nevada.
Gene Colabatistto, group president for defence and security at CAE – the company that currently provides the training facilities at the USAF air bases – tells FlightGlobal that the UK is looking to progress on contracting training domestically by the end of 2017. “Protector is pretty advanced, and we hope to work on that pretty soon,” he says, adding that because the new UAV will be able to operate in national airspace, this element of training will have to be bespoke, and will differ somewhat from the Reaper training carried out at Holloman and Creech.
In bringing UAV training home, Italy is leading the way – and due to receive its zero-hour mission simulator from CAE this summer. This will mean that there will be almost no dependence on the US training, and it is expected that the other operators of the type will eventually follow suit, Colabatistto notes.
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Source: Flight International
