The BAE Systems Taranis is a British demonstrator programme for

unmanned combat aerial vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircra ...

(UCAV) technology, under development primarily by the defence contractor BAE Systems Military Air & Information. The aircraft, which is named after the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

god of thunder

Taranis Taranis (sometimes Taranus or Tanarus) is a Celtic thunder god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. The Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Taranis, Esus, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare ...

, first flew in 2013. An unmanned warplane, the Taranis is designed to fly intercontinental missions, and would carry a variety of weapons, enabling it to attack both aerial and ground targets. It uses

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures. The term covers a range of military technology, methods used to make personnel ...

, giving it a low

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

profile, and is controllable via satellite link from anywhere on Earth.

Background

The development of UAVs was a key part of the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy, which was announced in December 2005, and specified the need for the UK to maintain its "sovereign" aircraft and UAV/UCAV construction skills. The Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicles (Experiment) Integrated Project Team, or SUAV(E) IPT, was given responsibility for auditing and overseeing the Taranis project.

Design and development

The Taranis project is led by BAE Systems, and also involves

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

, GE Aviation Systems,

QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

and the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MoD). As the prime contractor, BAE Systems is responsible for the overall programme, and also for many of the component technologies, including stealth technology, systems integration and system control infrastructure. BAE Systems and QinetiQ collaborated on all aspects relating to the autonomy of the system. GE Aviation Systems is responsible for providing Taranis' fuel-gauging and electrical power systems. having a 5% workshare in the project, while the Integrated Systems Technologies (Insyte) subsidiary of BAE Systems is providing C4ISTAR support. At the project's inception, BAE Systems stated that "Taranis will make use of at least 10 years of research and development into low observables, systems integration, control infrastructure and full autonomy. It follows the completion of risk-reduction activities to ensure the mix of technologies, materials and systems used are robust enough for the 'next logical step'." These "risk-reduction activities" included several earlier BAE stealth aircraft and UAV programmes, such as

Replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

, Nightjar I, Nightjar II, Kestrel, Corax, and HERTI.

Prototype

The production began for the Taranis prototype in September 2007, and assembly began in February 2008. On 9 January 2009, the Ministry of Defence denied that the Taranis had been flying near the site of a damaged

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

, after local people claimed to have seen a UFO. The prototype, which had an initial development cost of £143 million, was unveiled by BAE Systems at Warton Aerodrome,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, on 12 July 2010. Ground tests of the prototype began in 2010. The aircraft's first flight was later delayed to 2012, then delayed further and finally took place on 10 August 2013. The prototype has a

maximum takeoff weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...

(MTOW) of about , and is of a similar size to the BAE Hawk training jet. It has two internal weapons bays, and is intended to incorporate "full autonomy", allowing it to operate without human control for a large part of its mission.

Flight testing

On 25 October 2013, the Ministry of Defence revealed that initial flight tests had already taken place. Ground tests were conducted in 2010 and flight trials occurred in 2013. The MoD did not officially comment on the Taranis until the initial trials programme had been completed."Unmanned Taranis has flown, MoD reveals"
Flightglobal.com. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2014. On 5 February 2014, BAE revealed information on the Taranis' flight tests. The UCAV's first flight occurred on 10 August 2013 at

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a S ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. This flight lasted for approximately 15 minutes. A second sortie was launched on 17 August, and subsequent flights surpassed expectations for the airframe, flying at various speeds and heights for as long as one hour. By 2014, the Taranis' development costs had reached £185 million, compared to £140 million as originally projected. The Taranis is planned to be operational "post 2030" and used in concert with manned aircraft."VIDEO: UK ends silence on Taranis testing"
Flightglobal.com. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014. As of 2016 BAE Systems and the MoD were in discussions about a fourth series of flight tests.

Follow-on development

Under the terms of an Anglo-French development contract announced in 2014, parts from the Taranis would have been combined with the Dassault nEUROn in a joint European UCAV, the Future Combat Air System."Award of £120M Anglo-French Defence Co-Operation Contract"
Defense-Aerospace.com. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.

Specifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bae Taranis Stealth aircraft Unmanned stealth aircraft British Aerospace aircraft BAE Systems research and development Unmanned military aircraft of the United Kingdom Articles containing video clips 2010s British attack aircraft Flying wings Single-engined jet aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear