nEUROn & Taranis: Euro FCAS Projects In Flight

The European nEUROn project joins Britain’s Taranis UCAV, Russia’s MiG SKAT, Boeing’s X-45 Phantom Ray, and the US Navy’s X-47 UCAS-D program as unmanned aircraft projects with fighter-substitution potential.
Multinational projects are often fraught affairs, and Europe’s stealth Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) had its own close calls. In November 2005, a Forecast International report on the future UAV market saw political trouble coming for the proposed 6-nation nEUROn project, unless the partner nations could get their act together and agree. In the end, the project got rolling with committed funding of EUR 535 million and counting, and the French DGA (Délégation Générale pour l’Armement) procurement agency acting as the program executive. This FOCUS article covers the Neuron program’s 3-fold goals, envisioned platform, program structure and schedule, and ongoing contracts and developments. In the wake a Franco-British joint UCAV development memo, Britain’s Taranis project has been added to this article in a separate coverage stream.
Neuron: The Aircraft
Neuron: The Program
Program Goals
Industrial Partners
Program Budgets & Schedules
Thunder or Echo? Britain’s Taranis UCAV
nEUROn: Contracts & Key Events
2019
2015
2014
2011 – 2013
2008 – 2010
2006 – 2007
Taranis / FCAS: Contracts & Key Events
2013 – 2014
2007 – 2012
Additional Readings & Sources
Background: nEUROn
Background: Britain’s Taranis et. al.
Background: Other UCAVs
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