The companies recently completed a 15-month preparation phase contract awarded by the two nations’ defense ministries, and have now lodged details of a plan to mature and demonstrate critical technology and operational aspects for a future combat air system.
Britain and France signed a defense treaty in 2010, which included plans to collaborate on a number of equipment programs across missiles, UAVs, maritime equipment and other sectors.
Plans to co-develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned surveillance machine have been pretty much sidelined, with the focus instead on building skills and capabilities in the UCAV sector.
The two European nations are examining their options for next-generation combat air systems after the Rafale and Typhoon fighter jets are due to come out of service in the 2030 timeframe.
Both the British and the French are flight-testing technology demonstrator vehicles, but the new proposal foresees eventually building a jointly developed aircraft to assess operational issues.
The British decided to go it alone on their demonstrator, known as Taranis. But the French Neuron program is a collaborative effort that includes Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swiss and Swedish involvement.
On France’s Neuron UCAV technology demonstrator, some 85 flights are planned at the Istres test center in southern France until autumn 2014.
Neuron then will go to the Vidsel test range in Sweden for pre-operational trials, and will later be sent to the Perdadesfogu range in Italy for tests, particularly on firing and stealth assessment.
Neuron restarted test flights at Istres after appearing at the Paris Air Show in June.
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