News of further Anglo/French cooperation

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Member for

15 years 1 month

Posts: 840

So zero word on Telemos?

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 4,619

I think that if there is long grass then Telemos has been kicked there. My understanding of the situation is that the French are keen to share that project with others, and perhaps rightly if we don't need it in a hurry.

Airbus have done work on their system which is parallel to some extent and the French purchase of Reaper probably buys them a bit more time.

As to EJ200 powering a 2030 UCAV, I would hope that this isn't the case although I agree that it could be for another technology demonstrator. This is the perfect opportunity to develop something a bit more flexible than a 1980/90s technology fighter engine (no matter how wonderful).

If you look at the way that BAE used the same airframe with different wings for CORAX/RAVEN, and that body is very similar to that of Taranis, then perhaps they are thinking about more than one type with high commonality.

I'm not sold on the concept of Rafale/Typhoon just undergoing upgrades to keep them current. They could feed into this project and spawn a manned/unmanned hybrid with unmanned variants specialised in intelligence gathering and strike missions that require greater survivability and endurance.