The European Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (MALE RPAS), or Eurodrone, is a twin-turboprop

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

under development by

Airbus 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 Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (Marcel Bloch Aircraft Company). After ...

and Leonardo with a first flight expected by mid-2027. Orders for the system have been placed by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Development

On 18 May 2015, France, Germany and Italy launched a two-year European MALE RPAS study to define its operational capabilities, system requirements and preliminary design. Spain later joined the study. In November 2015, the program management was assigned to the European defence procurement agency

OCCAR The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (French: ''Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'ARmement''; OCCAR) is a European intergovernmental organisation that facilitates and manages collaborative armament programmes throu ...

, with

European Defence Agency The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the EU High Represent ...

support for

air traffic Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled ai ...

integration and

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

. The definition study was to be contracted in the first half of 2016, with potential development and production then aiming for a first delivery in 2025. A two-year definition study was launched in September 2016.

and Leonardo unveiled a full-scale mock-up at the April 2018

ILA Berlin Air Show The ILA Berlin Air Show ( German: (ILA)) combines a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with a public airshow. It is held every even year at the new Berlin ExpoCenter Airport next to the Berlin Brandenburg Airport ...

. In October 2018, OCCAR invited

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus SE. Formed in 2014 in the restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Airbus SE comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and divisions. Contributing 21% of Airbus reven ...

to submit a tender for the program, to coordinate the major sub-contractors, Dassault and Leonardo. In November 2018, the system

preliminary design review In the United States military integrated acquisition lifecycle the technical section has multiple acquisition technical reviews. Technical reviews and audits assist the acquisition and the number and types are tailored to the acquisition. Overall ...

was completed, allowing the stakeholders to align their

requirements In engineering, a requirement is a condition that must be satisfied for the output of a work effort to be acceptable. It is an explicit, objective, clear and often quantitative description of a condition to be satisfied by a material, design, pro ...

and contract in 2019. In late May 2019, Airbus submitted its offer. In the summer, the

French Senate The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...

criticised the platform as "too heavy, too expensive and therefore, too difficult to export" due to "German specifications". The

first flight First Flight may refer to: * Maiden flight, the first flight of a new aircraft type * First Flight Airport, in North Carolina, United States * First Flight High School, in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina * ''First Flight'' (sculpture), a sculp ...

was then scheduled for 2024, with first deliveries planned for 2027. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, contract signing slipped to 2021. The Airbus site at

Manching Manching () is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the locati ...

was selected for final assembly and ground testing. The

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

was then scheduled for 2025, with first deliveries planned for 2028. The contract is for 20 Eurodrone systems, each of which includes three aircraft, resulting in a total of 60 drones. In February 2022, the development and production contract was approved. The prototype first flight is now expected by mid-2027. In March 2022,

confirmed the selection of the

General Electric Catalyst The General Electric Catalyst (formerly Advanced Turboprop, or ATP) is a turboprop engine by GE Aerospace. It was announced on 16 November 2015 and will power the Beechcraft Denali, it first ran on December 22, 2017, and was certificated in Fe ...

turboprop engine over the

Safran Ardiden The Safran Ardiden is a turboshaft designed and produced by Safran Helicopter Engines for single and twin-engine helicopters. Launched in 2003 as a more powerful TM 333, it first ran in 2005 and was introduced in 2007. The Ardiden 1 ''Shakt ...

3TP.

Design

The Eurodrone is intended for long-endurance

intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...

and

ground support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as Strafing, strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS r ...

missions with precision-guided weapons. The twin-

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

s are mounted in a

pusher configuration In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, wh ...

behind the wing, similar to the smaller

BAE Systems Mantis The BAE Systems Mantis Unmanned Autonomous System Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator is a British demonstrator programme for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology. The Mantis is a twin-engine, turboprop-powered UCAV with a wingsp ...

, and one-third larger than the

MQ-9 The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomic ...

. The drone's dual engines were a demand of Germany, which intended to use the UAV for surveillance over domestic urban areas and was concerned that an engine failure in a single-engine drone could lead to the drone crashing into a house. France, which intends to use the system over conflict zones such as the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

, has been critical of its cost and weight. At , it is over twice as heavy as an

MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomi ...

. A French politician overseeing the RPAS project, Christian Cambon, criticized it as suffering from "obesity."

Operators

Future operators

; *

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air F ...

- 12 drones (4 systems) on contract ; *

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

- 21 drones (7 systems) on contract ; *

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

- 15 drones (5 systems) on contract ; *

Spanish Air Force The Spanish Air and Space Force () is the aerial and space warfare branch of the Spanish Armed Forces. History Early stages Hot air balloons have been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with the help of Al ...

- 12 drones (4 systems) on contract

Potential operators

; On 30 November 2023, Japan joined the Eurodrone programme as an observer. ; On 21 January 2025, India joined the Eurodrone programme as an observer.

Specifications

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.occar.int/our-work/programmes/male-rpas-medium-altitude-long-endurance-remotely-piloted-aircraft-system
Airbus Eurodrone webpage

Dassault Eurodrone webpage

Leonardo MALE RPAS webpage
Medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles Low-wing aircraft Twin-engined pusher aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of Germany Unmanned experimental aircraft International proposed aircraft Unmanned aerial vehicles of Spain Unmanned military aircraft of France Unmanned military aircraft of Italy International unmanned aerial vehicles