The Dassault nEUROn is an experimental Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) being developed with international cooperation, led by the French company Dassault Aviation. This delta wing stealth UCAV project is the final phase of the French Dassault LOGIDUC 3-step stealth "combat drone" programme. Until June 2005 it had the form of the original Dassault developed Grand Duc vehicle: supersonic two-engined long-range unmanned bomber, capable of performing attacks with nuclear weapons. Under the pressure of the international cooperation, especially from Sweden and Saab, it was transformed into a demonstrator of smaller single-engine technology. So it is now optimised for the testing of various technologies for the future UAVs and UCAVs, and will not enter serial production. It will only clear the way for a commercial product, that will use the technologies developed thanks to the nEUROn program. The full scale replica of the current configuration was unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2005.[2] The nEUROn development, originally planned by Dassault as "AVE Grand Duc", evolved into a European cooperation including Swedish Saab AB, Greek EAB, Swiss RUAG Aerospace, Spanish EADS CASA and Italian Alenia, with Dassault as the lead contractor. As a "technology demonstrator", only single vehicle will be produced to explore new operational concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighter aircraft that will be produced beyond 2020. This is advocated by the statement that the industrial partners want to invest more in technology development, rather than manufacturing of the flying hardware, despite the risk of the loss of the single prototype. The Dassault Aviation Group (French pronunciation: ​[daso]) is a French aircraft manufacturer of military and business jets, subsidiary of Dassault Group. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault and is the only aviation group in the world still owned by the founder's family and bearing his name. It is a multinational company employing almost 11,600 people, including 9,000 in France, with a commercial presence in over 83 countries in 2012. Its activities are centered on the following areas: aeronautics with 8,000 aircraft delivered since 1945, mainly business jets representing 71% of activity in 2012 (Falcon) and also military aircraft (Mirage 2000, 11 Rafale delivered in 2012 and nEUROn), space activities (ground telemetry systems, spacecraft design and pyrotechnic activities), services (Dassault Procurement Services, Dassault Falcon Jet and Dassault Falcon Service), aerospace and defense systems (Sogitec Industries). France (UK English pronunciation: /ˈfrɑːns/ frahnss; US English pronunciation: Listeni/ˈfræns/ franss; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française French pronunciation: ​[ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe,[note 12] with several overseas regions and territories. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three countries (Morocco, Spain) to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. From its shape, it is often referred to in French as l'Hexagone ("The Hexagon"). It is a member of the European Union. France is the largest country in Western Europe and the third-largest in Europe as a whole. It possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military, and political influence in Europe and around the world.[7] France has its main ideals expressed in the 18th-century Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second-largest colonial empire of the time, ruling large portions of first North America and India and then Northwest and Central Africa; Madagascar; Indochina and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan; and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; /ˈneɪtoʊ/ nay-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's "Partnership for Peace", with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.[4]

• published: 11 Sep 2013
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