European Drone Dassault nEUROn UCAV MAIDEN FLIGHT


The news was broken this morning (December 1, 2012) thanks to this tweet:

 


 
Dassault-Aviation released the news a few minutes later:

 


 

 

 


 

 

The stealth drone demonstrator « nEUROn » designed by Dassault Aviation, performed her maiden flight this morning at Istres Dassault Flight Test Center.

Dassault along with DGA – French Defense Procurement Agency, and nEUROn customer – successfully conducted this first flight test of the European UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle).

The nEUROn project FCAS (Future European fighter Combat Air System) , launched in 2005, involves France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Greece and Switzerland. Some parts or elements of this aircraft – flight controls maybe – would come from the Dassault Falcon 7X.

nEUROn Drone - June 2007 © Xavier Cotton

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Jan. 23 – 1st flight anniversary of both BLERIOT XI & TU-126

Thanks to the new Twitter technology, we can now embed some Twitter posts. A great aviation history’s tweep – @OlePrimdahl – pays tribute to both the Russian Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Tupolev Tu-126 Moss (January 23, 1962), and the famous French Blériot XI (January 23, 1909) flown by Louis Blériot to cross the Channel for the first time ie 6 months later:

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BOEING 787 Dreamliner maiden flight to JAPAN

It was the first time a Boeing B-787 Dreamliner had taken off for Japan. The Japanese ANA – All Nippon Airways – has ordered 40 Boeing B-787-8; and 15 B-787-9. This video was shot a month ago as the wide-body jet airliner departed from Seattle on July 3, 2011:

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Brand new drone in China

The V750 is a brand new unmanned helicopter designed by Qingdao Haili. It successfully completed its maiden flight in Shandong province three weeks ago.

This UAV has a load capacity of more than 77 kg. It can reach more than 160 km/h, and it can be remote-controlled from up to 153 kilometers away. The V750 drone could be used for ISR purpose. With a weight of 100 kg, it is deemed to be the largest drone in China as it could be as large as the American MQ-8 « Fire Scout ».

Watch the video (in Chinese):

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Boeing Phantom Ray maiden flight

The Boeing J-UCAS (Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System) took off from Ewards U.S. Air Force Base on April 27, 2011. This stealthy drone has been developed from the X-45C.

Video of the first flight:

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