Airbus expects Eurodrone contract early 2021

Airbus expects the four partner nations to the Eurodrone unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to award a contract for production early next year.

The Eurodrone, also known as European MALE RPAS and EuroMALE, is now being developed by Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. This full-scale mock-up was revealed at the ILA Berlin Airshow in 2018. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Speaking at a virtual running of the company’s annual Trade Media briefing (TMB) on 9 December, the company’s head of UAS development, Jana Rosenmann, said that with terms of the planned procurement recently agreed between the nations of Germany, Italy, France, and Spain, and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), a signature is expected in the first quarter of 2021.

“Since June we have had interesting and lively discussions with OCCAR, and on the table now we have a fair and reasonable offer for both sides [of the nations and OCCAR]. On 19 November the nations approved this agreement, and now all four are now running their own procurement processes,” Rosenmann said, adding that the final signature date will be dependent on the speed of these individual processes.

As noted by Rosenmann, while Airbus, Leonardo, and Dassault will each have a hand in the development of the Eurodrone (including the manufacture of the main fuselage by Airbus Spain), final assembly will take place only at Airbus’ Manching facility in Germany.