Although developed to help answer the UK’s surveillance requirements, the BAE Systems Mantis unmanned air vehicle technology demonstrator has become the focus of wider interest from elsewhere in Europe. The UAV is seen now as a potential platform to answer the time-critical requirements of France and Italy, as well as the UK itself, and will inevitably draw interest from other nations such as Germany and Spain.
All these nations have requirements for deep and persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability, which is required sooner rather than later. The Mantis faces a number of challengers in this field: the General Atomics Predator B/Reaper, already operated by the UK and Italy,
and selected by Germany for an interim capability; the Israel Aerospace Industries Heron TP that is being touted by a Dassault/Indra/Thales/IAI consortium to fill the French and Spanish requirements; and the EADS Talarion. The latter offers a highly capable all-European solution, but is not expected to be ready for service until 2018 at the earliest.
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