New image of nEUROn European stealth killer drone’s flight trials emerges

On the same day a new large, classified UAS (unmanned aerial system) for ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) developed by Northrop Grumman and dubbed RQ-180 was unveiled, a new image of the nEUROn UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) was released by Dassault.

The new image shows the European UCAV from a new angle as it provides a view of the drone’s belly.

nEUROn is a project involving France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland and Greece. The first example of this full-scale technology demonstrator rolled out on Jan. 20, 2012, after five years of design, development, and static testing.

Its shape reminds that of the American X-47B, that, actually, is quite similar to the RQ-180 concept unveiled by AW&ST: a sign that future U.S. and European spy or weaponized UAVs will be look alike drones.

Image credit: Dassault

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About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

5 Comments

    • It seems you are somewhat uninformed; Germany couldn’t use the Global Hawk because it lacked systems that were required by Europe’s safety standards. So it was bureaucracy more than anything, which of course has nothing (at all) to do with the nEUROn.

      This is neither “Europe”‘s first stealth jet nor its first drone.

      If you meant to say that bureaucracy may get in the way of the nEUROn too though, then I suppose you have a point. I wonder whether anti-collision systems are necessary for every drone in European airspace?

  1. Actually Neuron looks more like Phantom Ray with its straight leading edges rather than either RQ-180 or X-47B.

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