At a ceremony held in Washington DC Friday by defense and aeronautics magazine Aviation Week, Dassault Aviation and the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA - Direction Générale de l’Armement) were announced winner of the Laureate Awards, for the nEUROn program, Europe’s Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV).
This prize, which honors the values and visions of the global aerospace and defense industry, salutes the technological challenges performed and the innovative industrial solutions designed to develop the first large size stealth platform made in Europe, the nEUROn technological demonstrator.
Initiated by the French government in 2003 through the French Defense Procurement Agency with Dassault Aviation as prime contractor, the aim of the program was to demonstrate the maturity and the effectiveness of technical solutions to face the main challenges of the future combat aircraft industry for the next twenty years.
The need to develop strategic technologies, the necessity to uphold advanced skills in areas in which the French industry has gained technical competences and fields of excellence, and the goal to provide workload to the design offices have led the nEUROn program to be one of the most important for the defense sector.
The success of the nEUROn maiden flight, conducted on 1st December 2012, validates the capability of the French industry to prepare the future of manned or Unmanned Combat Aircraft systems.
It also illustrates the will of the French Authorities to be a major actor to the build -up of the future of defense, and the strategic commitment of Dassault Aviation to design and develop the best technologies to propose the outmost innovative operational solutions.
With more than 8,000 military and civil aircraft delivered to 83 countries over the past 60 years, and having logged nearly 28 million flight hours to date, Dassault Aviation can offer recognized know-how and experience in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, from the Rafale fighter to the Falcon range of high-end business jets, as well as military unmanned air systems.
