Article Posted on : - Jan 17, 2011

The Mantis UAV. A UK MoD photo

LONDON (BNS): In response to France and UK’s proposal to jointly design and build a next generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, leading defence firms have teamed up to offer their respective technologies.

While Britain’s BAE Systems has joined hands with French giant Dassault Aviation, UK's Cobham has teamed up with California-based General Atomics.

The third group in the fray is Airbus-owner EADS, which held partnership discussions with the missiles group MBDA and France’s Thales, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Development of the new drone system is part of a landmark defence treaty signed between France and UK in November 2010 under which the two countries had agreed to collaborate in the fields of military equipment, including aircraft carriers, submarine technologies, unmanned aircraft, transport and tanker aircraft, and satellite communications.

The new medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV system will be built at a cost of £600 million ($952 million).

The drone will be developed for operational intelligence and surveillance purposes. It will also have offensive capabilities, according to the UK government.

While the Dassault/BAE is expected to propose BAE’s Mantis UAV, EADS will put forth its Talarion drone and Cobham/General Atomics will enter its Predator model to build the new UAV, the news report said.