UAV - FEMALE vs MALE. Harfang som Forward Air Controller

FEMALE Prospects Dimmed by French Reaper Buy

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE » MAY 31, 2013

by  CHRIS POCOCK

EADS has been trying to launch the Talarion, labeled here as "European UAS" to invite collaboration. But European governments have made no commitment, preferring short-term solutions from the U.S. and Israel. (Photo: Chris Pocock)

May 31, 2013, 11:00 AM

At an unmanned vehicles forum in Bonn this week, EADS Cassidian was again promoting what it now calls a Future European Male (Female) system. But the prospects of a pan-European program to match or improve on Male (medium-altitude long-endurance) UAV offerings from Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere have receded. France has decided to buy two GA-ASI Reaper systems, and there are indications that the UKwill retain its Reapers beyond 2015, rather than retire them upon leaving Afghanistan. In Germany, it became known that the Defence Minister had also discussed a possible Reaper buy during a visit to the U.S. in April.

The French decision was justified by Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who cited an urgent need for surveillance over Mali following the French intervention there. However, according to its own magazine, the French Air Force has been successfully operating the EADS Harfang system using the IAI Heron platform over Mali since mid-January. Two of the UAVs deployed to an undisclosed location had flown 1,000 hours by mid-March, and they had used lasers to designate targets for other aircraft for the first time. The Harfang had earlier been deployed to support French and other allied forces in Afghanistan