France Signs Letter of Intent With UK on UCAS 

AUVSI photo.

By Danielle Lucey



Dassault Aviation announced today that France’s defense minister and his British counterpart have signed a letter of intent to formally create joint feasibility studies to create an unmanned combat air system.



The military cooperation agreement will strengthen the backbone of joint studies Dassault has performed in cooperation with BAE Systems, UCAS project leaders, and partners Safran, Rolls-Royce, Thalex and Selex. The partnership also carves a forward path for the Dassault’s past work on the Neuron combat UAS demonstrator, which had its first flight more than two years ago. Ongoing test flights of the platform are set to occur in France through fall of this year and then will transition to Sweden for operational trials. 



BAE and Dassault submitted a joint proposal to the French and British governments in November, following 15 months of preparation through a contract. 



"This launch by the French and British authorities is contributing to the development of the combat air systems sector and is paving the way for the future in this strategic field," says Eric Trappier, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.