nEUROn, the European full-scale technological demonstrator for an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), has successfully conducted more than 100 test flights in France, Italy and Sweden.
Equipped with a new attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) supplied by Litef, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, the aircraft completed a major milestone in the demonstrator program.
The new nEUROn is expected to be larger and more advanced than other proven UAV systems like the MQ-1 Predator. It would be able to launch precision-guided munitions from an internal weapons bay and perform an air-to-ground missions.
Launched by the French government in 2003, the nEUROn program aims to help the European combat aircraft industry in investigation and validation of technologies required for developing designs of the next-generation UCAV aircraft.
In 2015, the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) completed flight testing of the nEUROn technology demonstrator from Istres, France.
March 10, 2016
