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PARIS (BNS): French defence procurement agency DGA has awarded a contract to Sagem for delivery of five Sperwer Mk II advanced tactical drones to the French Army.

The new systems will join the existing fleet of Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as SDTI by the French Ministry of Defence) in service with the French Army.

The UAVs will be delivered between the second half of 2012 and mid-2013, and will enable the French Army to maintain its tactical drone capability, Sagem said, without disclosing financial details of the contract.

The Sperwer Mk II, an advanced variant of the Sperwer UAV, is launched in automatic mode by a catapult and recovered with a parachute. It can be operated very close to the area of operations.

Featuring the Euroflir 350 gyrostabilized EO/IR payload, the pilotless aircraft can fulfill in real time at day and night all ISTAR missions: intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance and direct support to ground troops.

Meanwhile, in another contract from the DGA, Sagem will modernise the GPS code P(Y) module on all Sperwer drones in service with the French Army.

Developed by Sagem for the Rafale multirole fighter, this GPS module is coupled to the drone's navigation system, enabling very precise geo-location of ground targets by the Sagem Euroflir 350+ optronics pod.