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Neuron UCAV Makes Debut
Making its debut here is a full-scale mock-up of the Dassault-led Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) prototype, due to make its first flight in 2010. One of the biggest European military aircraft demonstration projects since the 1980s, Neuron now involves six nations and will result in the first near-full-scale stealth aircraft to have flown outside the U.S. Configuration freeze is due this summer and the preliminary design review is expected in 2006.
Dassault stresses that Neuron is not a production program. A major objective of the project, in fact, is to develop and sustain Europe’s ability to design and integrated sophisticated military airframes once the current generation of fighters enters service. Dassault talks about “a major risk of incompetence” beyond 2015, in the absence of any European need for a project comparable to JSF. Neuron will sustain those skills until a replacement for the Rafale and Typhoon starts development, around 2030.
About the same size as a Mirage 2000, Neuron is a stealthy subsonic flying wing with an internal weapons bay. The most important technologies to be demonstrated include affordable stealth, a secure beyond-line-of-sight datalink, and a robust flight control system. Neuron will be an all-composite, all-electric aircraft. In planned tests, Neuron will release guided weapons from its internal bay on to a pre-designated target — the project does not include advanced sensors. Demonstrating a certain range is not critical, and UAV flight in mixed-use controlled airspace will not be part of the program: that technology is being demonstrated in other European efforts.
Other goals are to make the greatest possible use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) avionics, and to operate in a network-centric environment. The weapons bay will be designed to accommodate either munitions or reconnaissance sensors in a modular, quick-change package.
Dassault will be prime contractor for the entire Neuron program and France’s DGA will be the project manager. About half the value of the program will be sourced outside France. Partners include Sweden, which will concentrate on avionics; EADS-CASA, which formally joined the program in May and will focus on composite structures and ground control systems; Hellenic Aerospace Industries, building the aft fuselage and exhaust; Alenia, which will develop the smart integrated weapons bay (SIWB) based on experience with its Sky-X demonstrator; and RUAG of Switzerland, which will develop weapon interfaces.
Neuron’s name is spelt n-Euro-n. As Dassault vp for international affairs Yves Robins explains it, “We didn’t want to be the millionth Euro-something.” —Bill Sweetman
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