Battleangel

Via Defense Tech and also mentioned by The Local some time ago. It seems like the Swedish parliament didn’t quite get it. The government tried to fasttrack the decision without consulting with support parties and the whole thing fell apart. The same support parties then misunderstood the project and pulled the brakes. Apparently they didn’t catch the blog hoopla a couple of months ago as the project was first being touted and, dare I say, made headlines in blogs and newspapers all over the world.

The Neuron UCAV is being jointly developed by France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. But Sweden is, or at least was, the lead partner. A prototype of Neuron would most likely fly in 2009 and later spawn a series UCAV models. As it stands, Neuron is nothing but a demo project and technology test. And a way of consolidating the aerospace expertise of Europe towards achieving something that is truly more than the sums of its parts.

Though it should be noted that recent projections by Dassault doesn’t see the Neuron replacing the current line of fighter aircraft anytime soon …

Dassault unrealistically in the view of some believes that the necessity to field an operational derivative of Neuron will not emerge until 2030, when Typhoons, Rafales and Saab Gripens start to retire. By then, the first generation of US UCAVs is likely to have been in service for more than 15 years.

Source: Jane’s Defence Weekly

Just four days before the Paris unveiling, Sweden’s coalition government was informed by its two key minority parties that they were withdrawing their support for Neuron funding. An arcane dispute over the correct consultative procedures to be followed within government was backed up by lurid reports in the Swedish media that taxpayers money was being poured into a French nuclear bomber.

The onslaught was unexpected and unavoidable, and at the eleventh hour the funding authorization was pulled. Sweden had committed to spending $98 million on its 25% share of the program. Instead, the government is now faced with a horse-trading session to placate the Miljöpartiet (Green party) and Vansterpartiet (the left party), who are supposed to be on its side in the first place. The goodwill of the Liberal opposition has also to be secured.

Saab boss Åke Svensson hides his incredulity well. “There must be some kind of misunderstanding within the Swedish political community. All of our agreed defense decisions have been geared toward international cooperation and industrial partnership. Here we get all the benefits of a vital high-tech program for 25% of the cost. At Saab we are continuing our day-today work without changes, and we hope a renewed Swedish decision will not be too far away. If somehow that decision were no, well, that would be illogical and unthinkable. Our partners have shown us some understanding they realise there can be hiccups in political decisionmaking processes. They haven’t set us any deadlines, but I don’t know how patient they will be.”

Source: Robert Hewson, Aviation Week

Other Neuron News:

Thales Supplies Neuron UCAV Data Link
Thales has been signed by Dassault to provide the data link system for Neuron, the European unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator. The data link will provide both high-rate and low-rate data transfers between the aircraft and ground control. Highrate data includes video, imagery, radar and vehicle command and control data. The low-rate data transfer will provide security for information being transmitted to and from the aircraft.

Source: Aviation Week