The EADS Talarion is a

twinjet A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two jet engine, engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. F ...

Medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle A medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle flies at an altitude window of 10,000 to 30,000 feet (3,000–9,000 m) for extended durations of time, typically 24 to 48 hours.https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/products/falco-xplorer Th ...

(MALE UAV), designed by

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

, to meet future European military needs for

aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or Strategy, strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including Artillery observer, artillery spott ...

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

, and

aerial surveillance Surveillance aircraft are aircraft used for surveillance. They are primarily operated by military forces and government agencies in roles including intelligence gathering, maritime patrol, battlefield and airspace surveillance, observation (e.g ...

. EADS has run a preliminary design review, and is awaiting orders. The source of the name is the

Talaria The Talaria of Mercury () or The Winged Sandals of Hermes (, or , ) are winged sandals, a symbol of the Greek messenger god Hermes ( Roman equivalent Mercury). They were said to be made by the god Hephaestus of imperishable gold and they flew t ...

—the winged sandals of the Greek Messenger god

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

Design and development

The development of the Talarion was revealed with a mockup displayed at the 2009 Paris Airshow. This vehicle is a twin jet engined UAV with a wingspan of approximately 28 m. Avionics will be built by

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, a Swedish aircraft, aerospace and defence company, still known as SAAB, and together with subsidiaries as Saab Group ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab ...

. French parliamentary estimates place Talarion's total programme costs at around EUR 2.9 billion, including around 12–15 systems of three UAVs each.

Partnership with Turkish Aerospace Industries

In May 2011, a group of

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

suppliers, led by Turkish Aerospace Industries, joined the project by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with EADS Cassidian for the Talarion UAV programme. Turkey (Turkish Aerospace Industries) has developed and successfully produced MALE UAVs of its own and has subsequently gained significant experience with the development of larger long endurance UAV platforms. A very similar Turkish project, the

TAI Anka The TAI Anka is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries primarily for the Turkish Air Force. Envisioned in the early 2000s for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Anka has evolved into a modul ...

, made its debut at the 2010

Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...

and was scheduled to enter service with the Turkish Air Force in early 2012, but was eventually introduced in 2013.

Partnership with Alenia

In December 2011, Cassidian and Alenia announced that they would cooperate on MALE UAVs—including the Talarion. In February 2012, Cassidian announced plans to wind down the Talarion programme, after failing to secure financial backing from potential future buyers; the European market for UAVs now has stronger competition, and budgets are under pressure.

Customers

In 2010, EADS expressed frustration that the home nations—France, Germany, Spain, and the UK—were not committed to buying the Talarion. However, other countries' armed forces might also buy it; apart from an expected order from Turkey, the Talarion may also be a candidate in a Canadian competition to acquire unmanned surveillance systems, and in January 2013 it was suggested that the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n government might consider the Talarion, or the BAE Telemos (now cancelled), as an alternative to the

RQ-4 Global Hawk The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, Unmanned aerial vehicle, remotely-piloted surveillance aircraft introduced in 2001. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical (now part of Northrop Grumman), and known as Tier II+ d ...

. The Telemos had also been considered likely to compete with for Talarion for various future European deals.

Specifications

References