Future air power

Making manned and unmanned platforms smarter

By connecting a range of manned and unmanned platforms, the Future Combat Air System can help secure European sovereignty and technological leadership in the military aviation sector.

In the past, combat pilots had to do a lot of things by themselves. But times are changing: future air power will be based on a network of intelligent, connected platforms, delivering highly accurate, real-time information.

Airbus and Dassault Aviation have joined forces with the intention of developing and producing Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The forward-looking solution will aim to secure European sovereignty and technological leadership in the military aviation sector for the coming decades.

FCAS explained

The FCAS concept comprises a system of systems to connects manned and unmanned air platforms, including a next-generation fighter aircraft, Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the existing fleet of aircraft such as the A400M and Eurofighter, future cruise missiles, and combat drones flying in swarms. Each component is made smarter by connecting them via satellite constellations and cyber-secured networks. The new fighter aircraft would be at the heart of FCAS, able to control unmanned platforms to autonomously carry out multiple tasks .

Ready for future threats

The global environment is increasingly unpredictable, as are challenges to security. Nations must be able to respond at home, abroad and online against a variety of threats. With FCAS, France and Germany are leading the way by jointly developing the next generation of capabilities.

Roadmap for development

The roadmap is a work in progress. Some technologies will mature earlier and be brought into the current aircraft (Eurofighter and Rafale), some will be tested on prototypes and demonstrators, and implemented when fully mature in the final system. The next generation of fighter aircraft are expected to enter service between 2035 and 2040.  

Airbus,  Dassault  Aviation  and  Leonardo  reaffirm  their  total commitment  in  the  first  fully  European  MALE  programme.   

- Reveal full scale model at ILA Berlin Air  Show  2018.

- Programme  fosters  development of high technologies in Europe. 

- Optimises budgetary  situation through  pooling research and   development  funding. 

Berlin  26th  April  2018  –  The  first  full  scale  model  of  the  European  Medium-Altitude  LongEndurance  Remotely  Piloted  Aircraft  (MALE  RPAS)  was  unveiled  today  during  a  ceremony held at  the  2018  ILA  Berlin Air  Show,  which opened  its  gates  at  Schönefeld airport.     
The  reveal  ceremony,  led  by  Dirk  Hoke,  Airbus  Defence  and  Space  Chief  Executive  Officer (CEO),  Eric  Trappier,  Dassault  Aviation  Chairman  and  CEO  and  Lucio  Valerio  Cioffi, Leonardo’s  Aircraft  Division  Managing  Director,  confirms  the  commitment  of  the  four European  States  and  Industrial  partners  to  jointly  develop  a  sovereign  solution  for  European Defence and  Security. 

The  unveiling  of  the  full  scale  model  and  the  reaffirmed  commitment  comes  after  a  nearly two-year  definition  study  launched  in  September  2016  by  the  four  participating  nations Germany,  France,  Italy  and  Spain  and  follows  the  Declaration  of  Intent  to  work  together  on  a European MALE  unmanned aerial  system  signed  by  the  countries in  May  2015. 

“While  still  a  lot  of  work  lies  ahead  of  us,  this  full  scale  model  represents  a  first  milestone  of what  Europe  can  achieve  in  a  high-technology  sector  if  it  bundles  its  industrial  strength  and know-how  ”  said  Dirk  Hoke,  CEO  of  Airbus  Defence  and  Space.    “The  MALE  RPAS  will become  an  integral  part  in  guaranteeing  Europe’s  sovereignty  in  the  future.  This  programme is  ideally  suited  to  meet  urgent  capability  requirements  of  Europe’s  armed  forces.  This innovative  partnership  also  eases  the  countries’  constrained  budgetary  situation  through clever  pooling  of  research and development  funds.”  He added.   

“Today’s  unveiling  reflects  our  companies’  total  dedication  to  the  European  Defence  and Security  sovereignty.  Cooperation  and  high  technology  legitimate  the  leadership  of  the European  Industry  and  guarantee  the  strategic  autonomy  of  Europe.”  declared  Eric  Trappier, Chairman  and  CEO  of  Dassault  Aviation.  “Innovative  programmes  through  efficient partnerships  will  serve  European  competitiveness  and  will  offer  new  alternatives  to  the  offthe-shelf  acquisition  of  non-European  products.  Dassault  Aviation  reaffirms  its  full  support  to Airbus  Defence  and Space as  programme leader  of  the  MALE  RPAS.” 

“Unmanned  technologies  and  their  applications  represent  one  of  the  key  technological foundations for  the  future  evolution  of  European  Defence Industries”  said  Lucio  Valerio  Cioffi, Leonardo’s  Aircraft  Division  Managing  Director.  “The  European  MALE  RPAS  is  orientated  to foster  the  development  of  high  technologies  and  will  contribute  to  sustaining  key competencies  and  jobs  within  Europe  providing  Armed  Forces  with  an  high  performance  and sovereign operational  system”  he  added. 

About  the  MALE  RPAS programme   

First  unmanned  aerial  system  designed  for  flight  in  non-segregated  airspace,  its  characteristics  will  include mission  modularity  for operational  superiority  in  intelligence,  surveillance  and  reconnaissance,  both  wide  area  and in-theatre. 

The  nation’s  agreement  on  the  air  vehicle  configuration  in  mid-2017,  selecting  a  twin-turboprop  propulsion system,  will  supply  ample  on-board  energy  for  the  mission  system,  and  provide  proper  redundancy  to  limit restrictions  when  operating  over  European  densely  populated  ground  and  unrestricted  airspaces.  In  January 2018,  the  MALE  RPAS  successfully  passed  System  Requirements  Review  (SRR),  which  initiated  the  second phase  of  the  definition  study  to  lead  to  a  System  Preliminary  Design  Review  (SyPDR),  scheduled  for  the  end  of this  year.   

The  SyPDR  will  demonstrate  the  quality  and  fitness  for  the  proposed  design.  “Air  Traffic  Integration”  and certification  are  key  objectives,  giving  the  participating  States  full  confidence  that  the  development  step  can  be launched  with  acceptable  residual  risks. Preparations  for  the  next  stage  (development,  production  and  initial  in-service  support)  are  already  well  under way.  Entry-into-service  of  European  MALE RPAS is  planned  for the  middle  of  the  next  decade. 

Airbus presents ‘Flight Lab’ BLADE test aircraft to EU Clean Sky partners at ILA

· Showcasing its “Flight Lab” BLADE demonstrator aircraft for the first time at a major air show.

· The most extensive wing laminar flow demonstrator programme ever undertaken for commercial aviation.

· Improving aviation’s ecological footprint, with a 50% reduction in wing friction.

Airbus, which is showcasing its “Flight Lab” BLADE demonstrator aircraft for the first time at a major air show, has signed an accord with representatives of the numerous stakeholders to not only mark the joint success of bringing this unique programme to fruition, but also affirm their desire to build on this programme in the European framework of Clean Sky. The stakeholders present together with Airbus CEO Tom Enders at the ceremony included members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the German Government, European Member States and industrial partners across Europe.

The BLADE project, which stands for “Breakthrough Laminar Aircraft Demonstrator in Europe”, is part of the first phase of Clean Sky – a 1.6 billion Euro programme which has been running since 2008. BLADE has been tasked with assessing the feasibility of introducing laminar flow wing technology on a large airliner. It aims to improve aviation’s ecological footprint, bringing with it a 10 percent aircraft drag reduction and up to five percent lower CO2 emissions. Airbus worked with a team of more than 20 key partners* and around 500 contributors from all over Europe. Moreover, due to its size and complexity, this project was only possible thanks to the European Research initiative Clean Sky.

In September 2017 Airbus’ A340 laminar-flow Flight Lab test demonstrator aircraft (A340-300 MSN001) made its successful maiden flight and since then has been engaged in successful testing to explore the wing’s characteristics in flight. The test aircraft is the first in the world to combine a transonic laminar wing profile with a true internal primary structure.

On the outside the aircraft is fitted with two representative transonic laminar outer-wings, while inside the cabin there is a highly complex specialist flight-test-instrumentation (FTI) station. The extensive modifications to the A340-300 test-bed aircraft took place during the course of a 16-month working party in Tarbes, France, with the support of the numerous industrial partners across Europe. In terms of the testing technology, notable ‘firsts’ included the use of infrared cameras to monitor the laminar flow transition points and the acoustic generator which measures the influence of acoustics on laminarity. Another first is the innovative reflectometry system which measures overall deformation in real-time during flight. To date the Flight Lab has performed 66 flight hours. Flights will continue until 2019, dedicated to exploring the influencing factors on laminarity.

*Key industrial partners in BLADE:

5 micron; Aernnova; Airbus; Airtex; ASCO; BIAS – Research and Development for Applied Beam Technologies; Dassault Aviation; DLR - German Aerospace Center; DNW - German-Dutch Wind Tunnels; ETW - European Transonic Windtunnel GmbH; EURECAT; FTI Engineering; GKN Aerospace; INCAS - National Institute for Aerospace Research; ITAINNOVA - Technological Institute of Aragon; NLR - Netherlands Aerospace Center; Onera; Romaero; SAAB; Safran; SERTEC Engineering; VEW - Vereinigte Elektronik Werkstätten.