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

MALE UAV Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to a ...

under development by

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel D ...

and Leonardo for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, with a first flight expected by mid-2027.

Development

On 18 May 2015,

and

launched a European MALE RPAS study over two years, joined by

since, to define its operational capabilities, system requirements and preliminary design. In November 2015, the program management was assigned to the European defence procurement agency OCCAR, 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 High Representati ...

support for

air traffic Air Traffic are an English alternative rock band from Bournemouth signed to EMI Records. Formed in 2003, the band consists of Chris Wall (piano, lead vocals), David Ryan Jordan (Drums), Tom Pritchard (guitar) and Jim Maddock (bass guitar). Th ...

integration and

certification Certification is 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 attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

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

and Leonardo unveiled a full-scale mockup at the April 2018 ILA Berlin Air Show.AirbusDassault AviationLeonardo
/ref> On 31 October 2018, OCCAR invited

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

to submit a

tender Tender may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Illegal Tender'' (2007), a film directed by Franc. Reyes * ''Tender'' (2012), a short film by Liz Tomkins * ''Tender'' (2019), a short film by Darryl Jones and Anthony Lucido * ''Tender'' (2019), a sh ...

for the program, to coordinate the major sub-contractors, Dassault and Leonardo. On 22 November, the System Preliminary Design Review was achieved, allowing the stakeholders to align their

requirements In product development and process optimization, a requirement is a singular documented physical or functional need that a particular design, product or process aims to satisfy. It is commonly used in a formal sense in engineering design, inclu ...

and contract in 2019. In late May 2019, Airbus submitted its offer, but the contract signing may slip from 2019 to 2020. In the summer, the

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

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

First 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. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

was then scheduled for 2024, before first deliveries for 2027. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, contract signing slipped to 2021, selecting 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 location ...

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. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

was then scheduled for 2025, before first deliveries for 2028 of a contract for 60 drones. On 24 February 2022, the development and production contract was approved. The prototype first flight is expected by mid-2027. On 25 March 2022, Airbus Defence & Space confirmed the selection of the

General Electric Catalyst The General Electric Catalyst (formerly Advanced Turboprop, or ATP) is a turboprop engine by GE Aviation. It was announced on 16 November 2015 and will power the Beechcraft Denali, it first ran on December 22, 2017, and should be certified in 20 ...

turboprop over the Safran Ardiden 3TP.

Design

Missions targeted are long endurance

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

and

ground support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movemen ...

with

precision-guided weapons A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gu ...

. The twin-

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

s are mounted in a

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in no ...

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 wing ...

, and one-third larger than the MQ-9. 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 (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

, has been critical of its cost and weight. At 11,000 kg, 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) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Uni ...

. A French politician overseeing the RPAS project,

Christian Cambon Christian Cambon (born 8 March 1948) is a French politician of the Republicans (LR) who has been serving as a member of the Senate since 2004, representing the Val-de-Marne department. Early life and education Cambon graduated from the Paris ...

, criticized it as suffering from "obesity." MALE-RPAS (Eurodrone) dimensions

Operators

; *

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Arm ...

- 12 drones (4 systems) on contract ; *

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as ...

- 21 drones (7 systems) on contract ; *

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

- 15 drones (5 systems) on contract ; *

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

- 12 drones (4 systems) on contract

Specifications

References

External links