Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo. How’s the Eurodrone doing?
How is the Eurodrone Male Rpas program launched by Germany, Spain, France and Italy going?
The signing of the contract is expected at the beginning of 2021 for the Eurodrone, the program for the male Rpas unmanned aircraft in which Germany, France, Italy and Spain participate with their respective industries Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo.
On November 20, the European Organization for Co-operation in Arms (Occar) announced the completion of the negotiation phase of the Stage 2 Contract for the Eurodrone conducted by prime contractor Airbus Defense and Space.
The four partner countries are expected to sign the full development contract early next year, but the industries involved are already making production plans.
Like the Italian Leonardo who proposed the involvement of the Grottaglie production site in Taranto. The one-order site of the former Finmeccanica in fact needs to find anti-crisis solutions. And Leonardo, in the last meeting with the unions, undertook to find additional work talking about the new European drone project.
The new production of the drone would serve on the one hand to ease the decrease in work in Grottaglie of the Boeing 787 fuselages and on the other hand to position the plant on new orders and new projects.
All the details on the progress of the Eurodrone program.
CONCLUSION OF THE NEGOTIATION PHASE BETWEEN OCCAR AND AIRBUS
On November 20, the OCCR announced that the approval of the participating States in the program had been achieved. In other words, "the contractual conditions, prices and necessary services have been met" to carry out the initiative.
The next step is the signing of the Stage 2 contract which includes the agreement on development, production and initial in-service support – expected to last up to five years for 20 Eurodrone systems.
According to Jana Rosenmann, UAS Director at Airbus Defense and Space, the four partner countries have agreed to approve the latest contract and have initiated "national procurement processes".
THE EURO MALE RPAS PROGRAM
The European Male Rpas (Medium Altitude Long Endurance, Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) is a cooperation program launched five years ago by Airbus D&S, Leonardo Divisione Aerivoli and Dassault Aviation. It is a joint industrial-government initiative to meet future European requirements and is supported by the governments of France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The current contract includes 20 Eurodrone systems, each of which will include three aircraft for a total of 60 twin-engine aerial platforms. Currently, Germany as the lead nation of the program has a contract for seven systems, while Italy has committed to five systems. Spain and France each target four Eurodrone systems.
EXPECTED CAPABILITIES
As stated on Leonardo's website , the Evil Rpas, twin-engine turboprop, was designed for civilian missions and military Istar; will feature 24/7 day and night capabilities; all-time operations; easy maintenance and interoperability with existing and future defense systems.
THE EXPENDITURE FOR THE EUROMAL DRONE
"The countries participating in the program have foreseen an expenditure of approximately 7 billion euros for the development and certification phase of the drone, as well as for the purchase of 21 systems, each on a ground control station and three aircraft (63)" the analyst Aurelio Giansiracusa specified . "Therefore, the four partners are concluding discussions on the amount of this expenditure, to obtain a significant saving which, according to the Ministries concerned, should not exceed 160 million euros per system against the approximately 200 million euros of the MQ. -9 Reaper which continues to be the reference point for aeronautics and technical-political bodies ".
CONTRIBUTION FROM THE EUROPEAN DEFENSE FUND (EDF)
Without forgetting that the financial commitments for the program include funding of 100 million euros from the budget of the European Defense Fund .
THE INDUSTRIES INVOLVED
The industrial team of the program therefore includes the prime contractor Airbus, together with Dassault Aviation and Leonardo.
Rosenmann also revealed that the Eurodrone's final assembly will take place at the Airbus hub in Manching, Germany. Here Airbus plans to have an "integrated program plan" that will include support from Dassault and Leonardo employees. The delivery center will also be located in Manching, he added.
THE ROUTE
It is therefore expected that all 4 countries will sign the full contract in the first quarter of 2021 with the delivery of the aircraft and associated systems starting in 2028.
The first flight of the unmanned aerial system is expected in 2025.
THE ENGINE MUST BE SELECTED BETWEEN THE SAFRAN AND AVIO AERO (GE) PROPOSALS
Meanwhile, doubts remain about who will supply Eurodrone's 120 total engines, as La Tribune pointed out.
If Airbus Defense has resolved most of the industrial practices, it has yet to finalize negotiations with General Electric (Ge) and Safran, the two groups competing for the Eurodrone engine. The selection for the engine for the European Male drone will concern the Catalyst (proposed by Avio, a subsidiary of GE) and the Ardiden TP3 (Safran Helicopter Engines).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/airbus-dassault-e-leonardo-a-che-punto-e-eurodrone/ on Sun, 13 Dec 2020 15:29:12 +0000.