Announcement Made At One-Day Defense Summit Friday

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande have jointly announced plans to develop a military unmanned aircraft system with Britain's BAE Systems and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

The announcement came at a summit between the two countries on a variety of defense issues last Friday. The program has been under discussion since 2010, according to a report from Britain's Channel 4.

In a statement, BAE Systems president Ian King said "Together with Dassault we welcome the further support from our Governments for our joint work in developing this important defense capability for the United Kingdom and France.

“Given the strong research and development investment and progress in technology that has already been made, continuing work in unmanned air systems will also ensure we maintain the core knowledge and key skills necessary to make a make a long term contribution to both our national economies.”
 
The Company has recently completed a joint study for the UK and French governments with Dassault Aviation, known as the Future Combat Air System Demonstration Program Preparation Phase study.
 
BAE Systems said Friday's news "builds further on the investment and technological capabilities we have already developed in unmanned air systems (UAS) over the past decade through a number of prototypes and demonstrators. Most recently the Company and the UK Ministry of Defense invested in designing and building the Taranis Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator. Technologies from Taranis will make an important contribution to this next UAS development program."

(Image provided by BAE Systems)

FMI: www.baesystems.com