Paris, 26 March 2015. Ministère de la Défense

Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister of Defence and Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) met today to discuss French participation in EDA projects as well as preparations of the European Council discussion on defence in June 2015.

 “The European Defence Agency has an essential role to play for enabling defence cooperation in Europe and facilitating synergies with EU policies: EDA has a key role to play for example in the preparation and implementation of the CSDP related Preparatory Action. I welcome the work achieved to set up a multinational fleet of tankers, and the activities pursued in air traffic insertion in support of the MALE RPAS programme we run together with Germany and Italy. France will fully support the new EDA Chief Executive it his duty”said French Minister of Defence.

“The European Defence Agency is an instrument at the service of Member States. We support them in filling pressing capability shortfalls, in coordinating research and technology on a European level and we ensure that military interests are taken into account in wider EU policies such as Single European Sky. I am committed to answering to the expectations set by Member States and to avoid duplication of efforts. Our key priority is the preparation of the European Council next June, which should give a boost to defence cooperation and to defence industry across Europe.”, said Jorge Domecq during the meeting with Minister Le Drian.

The visit is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

24/03/2015 par Emmanuel Huberdeau – Air & Cosmos

C'est une première pour l'armée de l'Air. Un drone MQ-9 Reaper a été utilisé pour désigner, au laser, une cible au profit d'une bombe GBU larguée depuis un chasseur français. L'opération a eu lieu dans la bande sahélo saharienne dans le cadre de l'opération Barkhane.

Un détachement de l'escadron 1/33 « Belfort » comprenant deux drones Reaper et deux drones Harfang est actuellement déployé à Niamey en soutien de l'opération Barkhane. Un troisième drone Reaper a été commandé et devrait venir renforcer l'opération Barkhane au mois d'avril. Jusqu'à présent, ces drones étaient principalement utilisés pour des missions de renseignement. Le groupement « chasse » de Barkhane comprend trois (et bientôt quatre) Rafale et trois Mirage 2000D.

Suite de l’article

March 19, 2015 By: Beth Stevenson – FG

London - An arms transfer study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) claims that only the UK and Nigeria have been the recipients of armed unmanned air vehicles, despite “widespread interest” in their acquisition.

The numbers of importers and exporters of both armed and unarmed UAVs has “grown significantly” over the past 15 years, SIPRI says, and between the period of 2010 to 2014, 35 countries and the UN acquired 429 UAVs that weigh more than 25kg.

The USA and Israel are the main suppliers, although Austria, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Africa and Sweden all exported UAVS, says SIPRI in its “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2014” paper, released on 16 March.

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18 March 2015 BBC Africa

The US defence department has confirmed that it has killed an al-Shabab leader, Adan Garar.

The Pentagon says the militant was hit by a drone equipped with Hellfire missiles in southern Somalia last Friday. Garar was a suspect in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 people dead. The US believes Garar was overseeing operations that "target US persons and other Western interests". He was a member of the security and intelligence wing and a "key operative responsible for coordinating al-Shabab's external operations", according to the Pentagon.

Continue reading

Mar 18, 2015 defense-aerospace.com

 (Source: US Department of Defense; issued Mar 16, 2015)

Pentagon Contract Announcement

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, was awarded a $132,660,931 modification (P00022) to contract W58RGZ-13-C-0109 to acquire 19 Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft, 19 SATCOM Air Data Terminals, one lot of initial spares, and one lot of ground support equipment .

Fiscal 2014 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $132,660,931 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is May 31, 2017. Work will be performed in Poway, California.

Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

11 Mar 2015 by: Arie Egozi - FG

The G-Star unmanned air system jointly developed and marketed by Israeli manufacturer Innocon and G-Force Composites from Thailand has completed qualification test flights at 10,000ft and performed automatic take-off and landing at its 200kg (440lb) maximum weight.

A tactical UAS with a wingspan of 8m (26ft), the G-Star has a current flight endurance of 10h, although an effort is under way to increase this to 15h.

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17.03.2015 Par El Hadji Mamadou Gueye - yabiladi.com

Alors que les F-16 de l’armée marocaine participent actuellement aux combats menés contre Daesh, le royaume pourrait bénéficier de nouvelles armes américaines. Il figure en tout cas sur une liste très réduite de pays susceptibles d’être les premiers acheteurs de drones US types MQ-9 Reaper et Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

L’armée marocaine a récemment déployé ses F-16 (de fabrication américaine) pour participer aux combats menés par un groupe de pays contre l’organisation "Etat Islamique" en Irak et en Syrie. Le Maroc et les Etats-Unis pourraient même franchir une nouveau cap dans leur coopération militaire puisque le Maroc est sur une liste très réduite de pays qui pourraient être les premiers bénéficiaires des drones américains.

En effet, selon le journal National Interest, le royaume serait parmi les cinq premiers pays au monde à recevoir des drones US types MQ-9 Reaper et le Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, fabriqués par General Atomics. Il figure dans cette liste avec l’Inde, le Brésil ou encore le Canada et Singapour.

Surveiller les groupes terroristes au Mali, Libye, Algérie

Ces drones, selon la même source, pourraient être utiles dans la surveillance des frontières maroco-algériennes, notamment dans les zones où s’activent des groupes extrémistes. National Interest explique que le royaume est situé dans une région qui est en proie à des mouvements fondamentalistes islamiques qui doivent être combattus, faisant ainsi référence au Mali, à la Libye et une partie de l’Algérie. 

Outre les Lockheed Martin F-16, l’armée marocaine exploite d’autres équipements américains tels que les drones non armés Predator XP et avait aussi acquis en 2014 de nouveaux lots de missiles pour les F-16. Mais si l’accord est conclu, il pourrait disposer de drones armés pour surveiller les mouvements de groupes terroristes.

En 2014, le Maroc avait également acheté trois drones au fabricant français Dassault. Il s'agit de drones Heron TP de fabrication israélienne (Israel Aerospace Industries), capables de « mener des missions de reconnaissance et de collecte d’informations à plus de 40 000 pieds, et dotés d'une autonomie de vol de 36 heures ». Compte tenu de sa taille, le Heron TP peut transporter différents équipements : radars, détecteurs, des caméras, missiles...

A Pakistani Army Burraq unmanned aerial vehicle fires a Barq laser-guided missile during a March 13 firing demonstration near Rawalpindi. This photo was probably circulated by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Public Relations. (Pakistan MoD photo)

Mar 14, 2015 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Sputnik News; published Mar 13, 2015)

Drones are taking on a more ever-present role in the world and changing the way wars are fought. On Friday, Pakistan successfully tested its first military UAV.

According to a statement released by the Pakistani army, its military has just tested its own indigenously developed, armed drones. The unmanned aircraft come equipped with laser-guided missiles and will be deployed against terrorists along the country’s northwestern border with Afghanistan.

While the republic had already acquired surveillance drones, the new armed models highlight a major leap in technological achievement. The UAVs have been named Burraq, after the flying horse familiar in Islamic tradition.

Asim Bajwal of Inter Services Public Relations witnessed the test with Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, and according to Bajwal, both men were very satisfied with the results. Raheel called the event "a great national achievement."

Despite repeated requests for the United States to supply the Pakistani military with armed UAV’s, the American government has consistently denied the appeals.

As such, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles has been a longtime goal of the Pakistani military, which has complained about US drones targeting jihadists through its airspace. Many of these strikes have killed civilians.

According to an analysis conducted by human rights group Reprieve in January, US drones searching for four terrorists killed as many as 221 innocent civilians. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism claims that the CIA has conducted 413 strikes in Pakistan since 2004.

Pakistan stepped up its efforts to combat terrorism within its borders after a brutal attack by the Taliban last year. Over 130 children were murdered in a school in the northwest region of Peshawar. That assault also led to a reinstatement of the death penalty in Pakistan.

March 11, 2015 Spacewar.com (AFP)

Buenos Aires - Argentina will manufacture locally designed military drones, according to an announcement Tuesday in the official government gazette.

Argentina plans to use the drones, expected to fly as long as 12-20 hours, on its ships in searches at sea.

The program has an initial investment of 238 million dollars, the gazette said. The government contract is with state-owned INVAP, which makes complex technological products, and is owned by Rio Negro province.

INVAP designed Argentina's first communications satellite which was launched in October.

Dubbed ARSAT-1, it was Latin America's first to be built with homegrown technology.

Mar 13, 2015 defense-unmanned.com

(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; published Mar 12, 2015)

PARIS --- Three European nations will sign an agreement at the Paris air show in June to jointly fund initial studies for a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said here March 11.

France, Germany and Italy will follow up by awarding a study contract in December to an industry group formed by Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and Alenia Aermacchi.

The initial contract is valued at a few dozen millions of euros. Ultimately, if the program progresses as planned, the nations plan to obtain an operational reconnaissance UAV by 2025.

“Our effort in the field of surveillance drones and ISR will increase with, already this year, the launch of studies of the future European drone, with Germany and Italy, that France envisions for about 2025, ,” Le Drian said here during a March 11 press conference.

An Italian defense official confirmed the agreement, which has not yet been made public in Italy, however adding “we will see whether it ultimately leads to a development program.”

The three companies have been calling for such a government initiative for over two years, and in May 2013 took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement calling on their governments to “launch a European MALE program.…to support the capability needs of European armed forces while optimizing the difficult budgetary situation through pooling of research and development funding.”

The companies have a double goal: to maintain the know-how and expertise of their military aircraft design offices, now that they have mostly completed work on current fighters, and to recover the UAV business that is now going to their US competitors – France and Italy operate General Atomics Predator or Reaper UAVs, like the UK, the Netherlands has just decided to buy some while Spain is also weighing buying some.

“Originally, [our] idea was to prevent the procurement of Reaper drones by European governments,” but this didn’t work, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said here during a separate March 11 press conference. “We’ve been working on this project for a long time, and we think we can develop a drone to replace the Reaper, which is an interim solution. We have asked our governments to state that an operational requirement exists, and we will be able to reply to that requirement.”

In parallel, France is however continuing to boost its Reaper force, which is seeing intensive use in Africa, where it is supporting French and allied troops operating in Mali. France is due to receive a third Reaper aircraft in April, and will order a follow-on batch of three additional aircraft in August, according to a planning document released by Le Drian.

“We are asking for a contract from the three governments covering initial studies,” Trappier said. “Initially, it’s a question of a few dozen million euros, although it will cost more once development is launched.”

The three companies set out the details of their proposal in a second joint statement issued in June 2014, in which they proposed “a Definition Phase which has been prepared by joint development teams of Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and Alenia Aermacchi and which is backed by an industrial agreement on workshare and a cooperative agreement to start the MALE2020 program.”

The broad lines of the industry proposal have been retained, although the initial operational capability has slipped to 2025.

One of the trickier problems to be solved is the integration of the future MALE UAV into general air traffic, Trappier said. The inability to fly in unrestricted airspace is one of the reasons for which Germany canceled the EuroHawk program – a variant of Global Hawk fitted with a German sensor package – after spending several hundred million euros on its development.

12.03.2015 Romandie.com (ats)

L'agence européenne de sécurité aérienne (AESA) a annoncé jeudi travailler sur l'élaboration d'une nouvelle réglementation pour l'utilisation des drones civils. Elle tiendra compte de leur catégorie, de leur usage et donc des risques qu'ils peuvent engendrer.

"Baptisé 'Concept of operation' (concept d'utilisation opérationnelle), cette nouvelle approche prévoit une réglementation graduée afin d'intégrer les engins volants pilotés à distance dans l'espace aérien européen", a indiqué l'AESA dans un communiqué.

Sites sensibles

Trois catégories seront définies, la dernière étant relative aux drones de loisirs. Ces derniers ne feront pas l'objet de réglementation particulière, à l'exception de l'interdiction de survol de certaines zones comme les villes ou les sites sensibles.

"Les législations sont très variables d'un pays à l'autre en Europe. Dans certains cas, elles peuvent être relativement restrictives (licences individuelles, autorisation obligatoire pour certaines utilisations), dans d'autres, elles sont quasiment inexistantes", a expliqué un porte-parole de l'AESA. Il y a donc urgence à harmoniser la législation à mesure que l'usage des drones se popularise.

Utilisateurs entendus

Des propositions concrètes seront présentées à la Commission européenne en décembre pour les drones de loisirs, a ajouté le porte-parole. Il a précisé qu'il n'y avait en revanche pas de calendrier précis pour les autres types de drones, compte tenu des nombreuses parties prenantes à la réflexion.

"Ce concept est le premier résultat tangible de la nouvelle approche au sein de l'AESA qui consiste à écouter en premier lieu les utilisateurs avant d'élaborer les réglementations en fonction des risques encourus", a commenté Patrick Ky, directeur de l'AESA.

En France par exemple, l'usage des drones est d'ores et déjà réglementé depuis 2012. Ils doivent voler à moins de 150 mètres d'altitude pour ne pas faire courir de risque au trafic aérien. Le cadre réglementaire définit en outre quatre scénarios et autorisations éventuelles requises, suivant le poids du drone, le rayon d'action, l'altitude, le vol à vue ou hors vue du pilote, la zone survolée, notamment.

11 Mar 2015 By Peter Foster, Washington and agencies

Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, says Britain also planning to increase its assistance

The US announced it was stepping up non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday with a $75m (£50m) package that includes armoured Humvees and surveillance drones. The moves come as US and Nato officials report that Russia has continued to move men and materiel, including tanks, into eastern Ukraine since the February 12 ceasefire that was brokered in Minsk by Germany and France. The US also announced new economic sanctions to be targeted at officials in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in Ukraine as well as the Russian National Commercial Bank and a nationalist Russian group. The new measures will be accompanied by a US$5 billion credit from the International Monetary Fund which is expected in the coming days but falls far short of the demands from more hawkish members of the US Congress to provide lethal aide to Kiev. Mr Obama has resisted pressure from Congress and several senior officials in his administration, including his defence secretary, Ashton Carter, and secretary of state, John Kerry, to provide lethal support to Ukraine’s embattled armed forces.

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March 6, 2015 defense-unmanned.com

(Source: Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe; issued March 5, 2015)

ASD Welcomes EU Initiative On Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

RIGA, Latvia --- On the occasion of the High Level Conference on civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems organised by the Latvian EU Presidency in Riga on 5-6 March 2015, the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Associations (ASD) welcome the intention of the EU Commission to move forward with a joint European action plan to open the (civil) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) market.

“RPAS will be huge potential market of future aviation contributing to an estimated employment of 150 000 direct jobs in 2050 , innovation and growth in Europe. In the future, many applications could be developed both in terms of fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft. Moreover, important technological spin offs could be created to improve efficiency and safety for manned aviation,” said Jan Pie, ASD Secretary General.

Speaking in the name of ASD, Mr Alberto Pietra, Business Development Director at Selex ES, delivered the keynote speech, highlighting the importance of making progress on the insertion of all categories of RPAS into controlled airspace without reducing safety and airspace capacity. Mr Pietra also drew the attention to the fact that Industry was prepared to play a leading role in terms of technology development provided that the right framework is put in place in terms of safety regulation and EU public funding for R&D. ASD in particular stressed the need for Industry to be fully involved in all safety rulemaking initiatives and the need to increase the amount of public funding for R&D beyond the funds currently allocated to SESAR 2020.

ASD represents the Aeronautics, Space, Security and Defence industries in Europe. Based in Brussels, the organisation’s membership today comprises 15 major European aerospace and defence companies and 27 member associations in 20 countries. These industries reach a turnover of 197.3 billion euros, invest 20 billion euros in R&D, employ more than 778,000 people and counts over 3000 companies, 80000 suppliers, many of which are SMEs.