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.