Dassault released photographs of the Neuron UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) demonstrator in final assembly at Istres, France, and confirmed that the six-nation collaborative program is on schedule. All subassemblies have been delivered, including the low-observable parts of the structure coming from Dassault’s Argenteuil and Biarritz factories.
Thierry Prunier, senior vice president UAV and UCAV programs, told AIN that although only one Neuron air vehicle is being completed for flight test, up to four examples of each subassembly have been built. The additional examples are being tested in the “global integration rig” at Istres, or for other “real-hardware-in-the-loop” tests. Four pre-integration rigs have been used: one at Saint-Cloud, France, for the flight control system; two at Getafe, Spain, for the ground control and datalink management systems; and one at Linköping, Sweden, for avionics.
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