France receives its third Reaper

[Gabriel92]

@Nihonjin1051 @C130 @AMDR @Georgeclark @Peter C @DrawingDead @F-22Raptor @KAL-EL

Good news,i guess.
(Too bad that they aren't armed..)

This third reaper will be sent at Niamey (Niger) in May,it will be deployed with the 2 Reapers that are already there participating to the 'Operation Barkhane'.
The tests have been carried out by French teams in California,The reception was held in the US,in presence of the US Air Force and the industrial team of General Atomics.
(12-16 Reapers are planned to be bought)

La France réceptionne son troisième Reaper - Air et Cosmos

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The Reapers deployed in Niamey have already achieved 4.000 flight hours!

 

[C130]

noice, only matter of time before Europe develops and fields something similar to the Reaper.

think Mantis is one of those projects

 

[rockstar08]

why its not Armed ??
US wont sell Armed drones to France as well

 

[Gabriel92]

why its not Armed ??
US wont sell Armed drones to France as well

That's probably us that don't want armed drones....
Why are the British's armed ?

 

[C130]

That's probably us that don't want armed drones....
Why are the British's armed ?

I think the go ahead for arming Reapers will happen SOON

Dual Mode Brimstone's Greatest Hits | Military.com

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

noice, only matter of time before Europe develops and fields something similar to the Reaper.

think Mantis is one of those projects

They need to upgrade the engines

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

That's probably us that don't want armed drones....
Why are the British's armed ?

Because we dont want Grey to be the new white?

ok serious now.

The Brits have armed US drones for a variety of reasons;

1. The British, BAE, has maintained distance from the greater European Union's Defense giants. While the French routinely colaborate with the Germans, Spanish, Italians, etc.

2. Five-Eyes, all intelligence gathered is shared with US Intelligence Community. Any strike can only be carried out with permission from the US.

3. Remember the Joint Unmanned Combat Drones R&D with the US? That got cancelled, and the drones were just a "We're Sorry about that".

4. General Dynamics wanted a few extra $$$, and the assembly lines rolling.

5. The Brits lacked drone capabilities, and didn't really want to venture out alone. Hence why they joined the Joint R&D, also the revised British Armed Forces Plan. The Future Armed Offensive System was cut, only now in ?2012? the Brits decided to joint venture with the French on a new Unmanned Combat drone.

 

[Neemo neemo]

Seeing all this confirms my belief that future aerial warfare would be mostly done with unmanned fighters as well.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Seeing all this confirms my belief that future aerial warfare would be mostly done with unmanned fighters as well.

Certainly it would make a pilot uncomfortable knowing your adversary was a robot and has no qualms about doing what it takes to knock you out of the sky.

 

[Neemo neemo]

Certainly it would make a pilot uncomfortable knowing your adversary was a robot and has no qualms about doing what it takes to knock you out of the sky.

Well i was not talking about that, you know. That also is a good point, but it is more like a psychological thing which could be improvised easily. Remember Top Gun?

I was thinking more like the abilities of pilot less fighter. You know there would be not much boundation of G-forces and stuff then. And also fear of getting shot down by enemy won't be their for their operator, hence the operators can focus more in their work.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Well i was not talking about that, you know. That also is a good point, but it is more like a psychological thing which could be improvised easily. Remember Top Gun?

I was thinking more like the abilities of pilot less fighter. You know there would be not much boundation of G-forces and stuff then. And also fear of getting shot down by enemy won't be their for their operator, hence the operators can focus more in their work.

To a point. But this assumes you can keep a communications link open. Inevitably this wont be possible and the drone will have to do everything itself.

 

[Neemo neemo]

To a point. But this assumes you can keep a communications link open. Inevitably this wont be possible and the drone will have to do everything itself.

I think communications link have to do until they create some onboard super computer like Jarvis or the one in movie stealth.

Anyways, since most of the countries are not well verse with Drone tech, So US got a pretty good head start in this area and you guys can work on that super computer stuff for at least a decade or so. Who knows maybe US might already be close to something like that.

BTW i'm all up for More-tech-less-Human thing.

 

[rockstar08]

That's probably us that don't want armed drones....
Why are the British's armed ?

maybe because they have Cool Accent

 

[Oldman1]

why its not Armed ??
US wont sell Armed drones to France as well

Its not that they don't want to sell armed versions, but as Gabriel stated that most European countries don't want to for political reasons.

 

[Audio]

They need to upgrade the engines

Plus, the as of yet unknown French/UK development that will come out of Neuron and Taranis programmes, also jet powered..... (the rest of the countries that were on Neuron, Switzerland included idk what they will do, but presumably also want such capabilities) contracts for initial studies were already signed (France, UK To Sign Agreement Kicking Off Combat Drone Study | Defense News | defensenews.com)
The exclusion of everyone by France/UK is rumored to do with the fact noone wants a repeat of EF tender, which got perpetually delayed due to everchanging requirements from participants. So, i assume this will be a fast track programme, especially if it's built on Neuron/Taranis as basis, which is already flying for a few years already i think.

This leaves the open question what others will do, you can see on first pic above German and Spanish flag...Italians also have a UAV industry, also operate Reapers iirc as means of studying tactics. Sweden was also on Neuron...idk what they will do....possibly join with others....

If this seems like a lot of programmes and potential possibilities, it is so because the people in charge have decided we in Europe don't need a 5th gen. fighter of indigeneous origin, which was a ludicrous proposition back then when it was taken, and is even more so now.
They plan to use the expertise gained with these UAV's and use it on 6th gen (i hope?) fighter with "plans" (high in the clouds atm only-nothing solid) for development around 2035.
I sincerely hope at least SAAB gets a partner to develop a 5th gen. fighter on a Gripen as basis, though chances are getting slimmer, especially since Koreans decided to ask LM for help in development of KF-X, and as for Brazil, idk if they can or will be able to afford a 5th gen. fighter in the immediate future. Although, they said they do need a sea Gripen!