Tony Osborne The four-nation Eurodrone has been designed to allow capability growth as nations eye new missions for the MALE UAS.
Tony Osborne
Size matters, it seems, when it comes to Europe’s development of a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air system.
With its 11-metric-ton maximum takeoff weight and 30-m (98-ft.) wingspan, the four-nation Eurodrone looks set to become the largest military turboprop-powered UAS yet, twice the size of the U.S.-made General Atomics Reaper.
The platform’s scale has previously drawn ire, with French lawmakers describing the aircraft as obese and overly complex due to German requirements for it to fly nonsegregated in the country’s busy airspace.
But recently, Airbus in Germany, which is leading the development of the Eurodrone in conjunction with France’s Dassault Aviation, Italy’s Leonardo and Airbus in Spain, has answered some of those criticisms, arguing that the platform would be a trailblazer for a future generation of MALE UAS.
“It’s not about being large and being heavy; it is about securing the future,” Airbus Eurodrone Chief Engineer Daniela Lohwasser said at the company’s Trade Media Briefings event on Nov. 30.
Eurodrone, Lohwasser said, would set a new trend in the UAV market because of its increased range as well as a higher payload capability, around 2,300 kg (5,070 lb.), significantly greater than other MALE platforms.
“We have a chance to fulfill the future needs arising from our [customer] nations,” she said.
Airbus believes the Eurodrone will quickly find other roles beyond traditional battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and will likely be pushed into the maritime surveillance mission, requiring a new suite of sensors including powerful search radars.
According to Lohwasser, the Eurodrone’s design has provisions for growth in onboard systems such as electrical power as well as increased weight to accommodate more weapons and sensors. The development of platform software enables segregation of key systems, allowing for speedier integration of new elements.
The choice of two engines also strengthens the case for civil certification, with the program adopting the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s CS-23 certification standards for utility, aerobatic and commuter aircraft.
The twin-engine configuration also reduces life-cycle costs, Lohwasser argues, because of reduced maintenance requirements, and the additional performance they bring should enable the Eurodrone to be more reactive because it will be faster than single-engine platforms.
“We’re seeing more and more of these vehicles with two engines,” Lohwasser said. “I would say this is going to become the new market normal.”
Even so, the program remains in limbo. The multibillion-euro contract for the Eurodrone’s development, production and initial in-service support provisionally agreed to by the partner nations has yet to be signed, awaiting budgetary approvals from the government in Spain.
Lawmakers in France, Germany and Italy have already given the nod, but Madrid’s slower pace of approval looks set to nudge contract signing and program launch into 2022 at the earliest, with entry into service creeping toward 2030.
“We are in the waiting phase basically every day with Spain,” Lohwasser said. “We fully understand that there are national processes to be followed and so on, but with approval, it will take maybe a couple of months more until we will be ready to finally go for the full contract signatures.”
The partner nations are collectively ordering 20 systems, each comprising three air vehicles. Germany will take seven systems, Italy five, while France and Spain will purchase four each.
The Eurodrone can be armed if the customer nation desires, and Germany’s new coalition government has stated that it will introduce legislation to allow the arming of UAS operated by the country’s armed forces.
As program lead, Airbus will undertake final assembly at the company’s facility in Manching, Germany. Airbus Germany will also lead on flight management and airspace integration, landing gear and the ground control system, while teams in Spain will build the fuselage and empennage, develop the ground safety control systems and integrate the engines. Dassault’s share includes work on flight and landing-system safety as well as communications and work on maintenance systems. Leonardo will build the UAS’ wings and develop the electrical and environmental control systems as well as the mission and armament systems.
No decision has been taken yet on propulsion, but two suppliers have been downselected: Safran with the Ardiden TP, and General Electric’s Catalyst, developed in the Czech Republic.
“The plan is that right after contract signature, we will announce the engine provider, but not before,” Lohwasser said.
Under current timelines, within five months of launch the industrial partners want to set the safety and certification requirements, while a preliminary design review is penciled in for 13 months later. First flight is due to take place 62 months after project launch.
The Eurodrone will be the first Airbus defense program to make use of the company’s digital design, manufacturing and services approach end to end.
It will be the “guinea pig, setting the scene for many of our developments to come,” Lohwasser said.