Successful demonstration of the EADS EAGLE UAV in Canada
Vélizy, 08 December 2003
EADS’ EAGLE UAV has successfully completed two weeks of experimental trials in Canada.
In this campaign, undertaken for the British armed forces in the framework of the Joint UAV Experimentation Programme, the Eagle Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV participated in a large military exercise involving both ground and air forces.
The Eagle system supplied by EADS consisted of an unmanned aerial vehicle, two ground stations of which one was situated at the Batus (British ARMY TRAINING UNIT SUFFIELD) headquarters in Alberta state whilst a mobile reception unit (remote video terminal) was provided to the units in the field.
Eagle, with UK markings, carried three payloads in addition to its secure data link, transponder and anti-icing system : a high-definition SAR radar, an electro-optical and infra-red bi-sensor for day/night use along with a radio relay.
During the two weeks of the exercise, from 7th to 21st October, Eagle undertook 12 missions during which surveillance, recognition and identification was performed, the majority of the missions being of greater than seven hours duration with take-off and landings by night.
“With 73 flight hours and an availability of 100%, the Eagle performance, even when pushed by sometimes very harsh environmental conditions, was exactly as expected” stated Stefan Zoller CEO of the DCS unit.
The military particularly appreciated the ability to use all the payloads during the same mission to obtain a perfect identification of the various elements deployed on the battlefield along with the ease by which the Eagle mission plan could be modified.
Eagle had previously participated in a series of exercises in the USA during which 56 flight hours were achieved. EADS Defence and Communication Systems (DCS) is part of the newly restructured Defence and Security Systems division of EADS. DCS has been created in order to better respond to the new evolution of the defence markets which are more focused on global solutions and integrated systems. For this purpose, DCS regroups several defence activities with the telecommunications activities of EADS. Its field of competence encompasses manned and unmanned systems such as tactical and strategic UAVs, manned mission aircraft, Command, Control, Communication Information systems (C3I), Air and Naval Defence, Public Safety including Homeland Security and Communication and Information Network. DCS as the EADS System House implements advanced defence concepts, simulation and experimentation tools like NETCOS.
EADS is the second largest aerospace and defence company in the world with revenues of € 29.9 billion in the year 2002 and a workforce of more than 100,000. It is a systems integrator and as such is one of the few companies worldwide capable of combining various products and technologies to form complete systems and offering the associated services. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the second largest missile producer in the global market. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. EADS has over 70 sites in France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain and is active in many regions worldwide, amongst them America, Russia and Asia.
Your point of contact:
EADS Systems & Defence Electronics
Patrick Brunet
Phone : +33 (1) 34 63 70 79
Fax : 33 (1) 34 63 73 77
E-mail: patrick.brunet@sysde.eads.net
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