News of further Anglo/French cooperation

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Well there is another summit between the two countries happening today at RAF Brize Norton, and we are expecting news of UCAVs, helicopter launched ASM production and other UAV type news.

Here is an article to kick things off with a view to news appearing when it happens:

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?shop=dae&modele=feature&prod=151202&cat=5

Interesting to read that the UK is borrowing wheeled armoured vehicles from France as well as juggling A400M production slots with France so it can get 2 into service sooner than planned.

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I can hardly wait.

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13 years 5 months

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Concorde it ain't.

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Shamelessly stolen from Milphotos.

http://i61.tinypic.com/e621r6.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/9t2ujp.jpg

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Another one...

http://i62.tinypic.com/k55yr5.jpg

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...Interesting to read that the UK is borrowing wheeled armoured vehicles from France ....

Yeah - after dropping out of the Boxer because we decided such a vehicle wasn't needed, then changing our minds again & evaluating Boxer, VBCI & Piranha 5, then kicking it into the long grass again, having spent a few hundred million & not bought anything . . . .

Frankly, I don't care very much which we get. I'm damned sure that if we'd stuck with Boxer we'd now have an excellent vehicle, but if we'd bought either of the others we'd also have something good & useful. All I ask is that we don't waste a fortune on repeated evaluations, cancellations, re-evaluations, then spending three times as much as we need to by turning a supposedly OTS product into something customised beyond recognition & built in a specially built factory in tiny numbers because that's all we can afford after spending most of the budget on the procurement process, extra development & the pointless factory stuck in whatever constituency the govt. wants to curry favour in.

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Fresh from Flight Global:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/dassault-and-bae-systems-welcome-anglo-french-ucav-pact-395445/

Well no real detail other than its now moved to a 2 year feasibility study and that they are sticking with the conceptual artwork we have had for the past 2 years....

@swerve, I assume you can apply those gripes to any UK defence project including this one potentially.

As to smart comments about Concorde, this is far more important than Concorde. Get this one wrong and the whole fast jet sector is up the swanny.....

That is true for both countries, whether the more conservative sections of their societies like it or not.

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Re 6

Spot on !

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Another artwork seen at Le Bourget... for mrmalaya

[ATTACH=CONFIG]225091[/ATTACH]

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What is the (new?) UCAV called if i may ask, it's not Taranis and it's not Neuron. Thanks.

PS: It's FCAS DPPP right?

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Shamelessly stolen from Milphotos.

http://i61.tinypic.com/e621r6.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/9t2ujp.jpg

Much better (even both officials are impressively marking an acute sens of defense objectives - again).

The greater aspect ratio wing, less sweep, more flatter extrados (and boosted boundary layer perhaps), negative diedra reflecting a concern for roll rate and a confidence regarding split flaps usage.

What it lacks IMOHO: more pointy tips reflecting an increased plasma usage, more speed (but I guess that the turbofan (high bypass) is a choice dictated by a need for an increased range. But Mach 0.6.... It's a huge time regarding ToT.

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Well to my highly trained eye, the model on display at the conference looks like they have reimagined an Avenger.

A slow UAV won't come close to filling any future requirements let alone be able to work effectively with Typhoon and Rafale or the F35. So for this reason I think it is as someone (Amiga500?) said in an earlier thread about this artwork: they have taken the front of Taranis and stuck it on the back of Neuron.

If the UK still wont talk about what is going on with Taranis, I think the chances of this model being representative of their current thinking is quite slim.

@Halloweene isn't that just an old Dassault design model?

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Of course it is slim, they are just starting phase 2 (feasability studies)....

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Indeed.

As someone who is not in the industry I have struggled with some of the terms used (they all seem to be another way of saying "marking time until we work out what we want to do").

What does a feasibility study do that is different to a risk reduction effort? Was the past year or more just seeing if the two projects could work if merged and the upcoming study is now to do with seeing what is possible?

You can see why I am a little confused I hope?

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[...]
If the UK still wont talk about what is going on with Taranis, I think the chances of this model being representative of their current thinking is quite slim.

I am not sure that Taranis is a success regarding the configuration chosen.

This one looks better. My own personal view of course.

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I'd expect the final product to be an EJ200 powered supercruiser. The Ardour version might do for bomb trucking later in a successful air campaign.

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Outsourced from the article linked by Tango:

SIPRI Top 100 Defense Companies Data – 2012
The ranking is followed by sales in 2012 and 2011
1. Lockheed Martin, US, $36bn, $36.27bn
2. Boeing, US, $27.6bn, $30.56bn
3. BAE Systems, UK, $26.85bn, $29.16bn
4. Raytheon, US, $22.5bn, $22.9bn
5. General Dynamics, US, $20.94bn, $23.33bn
6. Northtrop, US, $19.40bn, $23.34bn
7. EADS, Trans Europe, $15.40bn, $16.40bn
8. United Technologies, US, $13.46bn, $11.64bn
9. Finmeccanica, Italy, $12.53bn, $14.57bn
10. L-3 Communications, US, $10.84bn, $12.52bn
11. BAE Systems Inc, US, $10.37bn, $13.56bn
12. Thales, France, $8.88bn, $9.48bn
13. SAIC, US, $7.82bn, $7.94bn
14. Hungington Ingalls, US, $6.44bn, $6.38bn
15. Almaz-Antel, Russia, $5.51bn, $3.86bn
16. Safran, France, $5.30bn, $5.24bn
17. Honeywell, US, $5.11bn, $5.28bn
18. Rolls Royce, UK, $5.01bn, $4.73bn
19. Sikorsky, US, $4.51bn, $4.97bn (United Technologies)
20. United Aircraft, Russia, $$4.44, bn$4.40bn
21. General Electric, US, $4.1bn, $4.1bn
22. Oshkosh Truck, US, $3.95, bn$4.37bn
23. MBDA, Trans Europe, $3.86bn, $4.17bn (Finmeccanica/ BAE Systems/ EADS)
24. ITT Exelis, US, $3.80bn, $4.15bn
25. Pratt & Whitney, US, $3.72bn, $3.00bn

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Add them together and BAE is the biggest (Excluding MBDA)

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What is the (new?) UCAV called if i may ask, it's not Taranis and it's not Neuron. Thanks.

PS: It's FCAS DPPP right?

They should call it Jaguar 2.

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16 years

Posts: 265

Well to my highly trained eye, the model on display at the conference looks like they have reimagined an Avenger.

A slow UAV won't come close to filling any future requirements let alone be able to work effectively with Typhoon and Rafale or the F35. So for this reason I think it is as someone (Amiga500?) said in an earlier thread about this artwork: they have taken the front of Taranis and stuck it on the back of Neuron.


If the UK still wont talk about what is going on with Taranis, I think the chances of this model being representative of their current thinking is quite slim.

@Halloweene isn't that just an old Dassault design model?

Ironically enough next week's "Flight international" is supposed to have an update on Taranis....

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What does a feasibility study do that is different to a risk reduction effort?
Uneducated guess: the latter was about bringing technologies to higher maturity levels.
The former is about making plans about which high or near-high maturity technologies to actually utilize and what possible combinations of them could be made a final product.
In all likelyhood, with rough budget estimates along with development risk profiles for the different options.
One was just about pushing the technological frontier, not directly worried about how to fit into a specific program with specific capability requirements and "fixed" (:very_drunk:) budget, the other exactly focused to that aim.
The most latest program will be crucial in establishing what exact requirements to attach to the final program. :very_drunk: