Eurodrone - the 1st end-to-end designed - MEGA DRONE

Four EU countries are collaborating to develop the first large all-European unmanned aerial vehicle. But the push for “strategic autonomy” through this project is paved with conflict.Should the Eurodrone be armed or unarmed? Should it have one or two engines? And whichever decision on that: who will produce it?

These are only some of the issues that have slowed down the development of the Eurodrone, a €7.1 billion industrial project by a consortium of France, Germany, Italy and Spain and their major giants; Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation and Leonardo. The first deliveries of the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) are expected in 2029, 15 years after the project was launched.

The risk is that “we will be buying obsolete equipment when it is ready”, says French senator Cédric Perrin.

No permission needed from the US
The Eurodrone is not only a complex project between major defense companies. It is also the industrial flagship of EU’s political push for stronger common defence capabilities and more “strategic autonomy”, not least from the USA. In concrete terms, the Eurodrone aims to compete with American drones like Reaper and Predator, the Israeli UAVs Heron and Hermes, and Turkey’s Bayraktar. The Eurodrone’s strength lies in being a completely European product, a technology that does not depend on third countries. “The first Reapers purchased by France were completely managed by the Americans. When you wanted to fly it somewhere, you had to ask permission from the American Congress”, Cédric Perrin explains.

Public money, no call for tender
The Eurodrone, with a wingspan of 30 meters, can provide surveillance or air strike capabilities for around 20 hours. It stands out for yet one reason: it is so far the largest recipient of EU funding for industrial development in the military sector. In 2021, the drone project received €100 million from the European Defence Industry Development Programme (EDIDP) without any call for tenders. That is a “symbolic, but welcome” sum, according to a source in one of the companies involved. “We are happy to receive this funding, but it does not give the European Commission the right to intervene in the negotiations we conduct with our clients, the four countries”, this person says.

The clients are not totally on the same page. Each country has a different use of the drone in mind: France wants a weapon to be used in the Sahel in Africa, while Germany aims at surveillance of its own territory. https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/eurodrone