Posted on 12/04/2012 10:57:28 PM PST by Seizethecarp
To kick this week off we thought we'd bring you these pictures showing that France has become the second nation in the world to (publicly) fly a stealth UAV. These images show Dassault's nEUROn (yes, it's really written that way) making its maiden flight in Istres on Dec. 1.
nEUROn is a technology demonstrator; basically it's a plane used to prove that all the tech Dassault has designed for a stealth, unmanned strike jet will actually work.
Here are some stats about nEUROn from Dassault:
"With a length of 10 meters, a wingspan of 12.5 meters and an empty weight of 5 tons, the aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca 'Adour' engine.
"The nEUROn will continue to undergo testing in France until 2014, at which time it will be sent to Vidsel in Sweden for a series of operational trials. It will then go to the Perdadesfogu range (Italy) for further tests, in particular firing and stealth measurements."
Much like the X-47B, the nEUROn is designed to prove the tech behind a stealthy strike fighter. That last sentence from Dassault's press release points out that the jet will be dropping bombs as part of its flight testing.
(Excerpt) Read more at killerapps.foreignpolicy.com ...
Take that back!!!!!
We haven’t developed a model that retreats yet.
;^)
I believe that’s a picture of the French FRQ-170-R.
Funny how all the nations that are claiming they are having huge financial issues are spending so much money on the drone programs. And their purpose; to be used to spy on their own citizens or used to assist in enforcement actions once they are armed. Like we need thousands of drones flying around reporting us for infractions (ticket’s in the mail) or tasing us if we didn’t send in our taxes or paid our Obamacare fees on time..../s
No but the first time they got into a dogfight someone was heard to say, “Let’s do a 360 and get out of here.”
The little white flag flying behind it ruins the image though.
And before you know it they’ll start handing them out as presents to rogue nations like Iran ;)
Why not?
France was giving Iraq surface to air missiles during 2003, and denied the entire thing despite French missiles with manufacture dates of May 2003 showing up.
And let’s not forget their helpful technical assistance to ole Saddam there.
They were a real friend... of dictators.
Doubt we’ve seen the end of French colaborationism.
One can say much the same of the US... Especially with its recent support of Al Qaida affiliates in Libya and elsewhere...
But seriously, that French-bashing is getting way old...
You mean OBAMA and his Fast and Furious Part II gambit.
;^)
...and the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, along with the financial aid they given them now. (And so do we BTW, financial aid that is.)
Yeah.
Gotta love it.
Yep...
But I’m not letting the republicans and NATO allies off the hook. They did precious little to speak out against it... I mean it’s completely ludicrous to fly air support for people who had fought with Al Qaida only months before...
I shudder to think of what later generations will say of us...
We also have an amazingly weak speaker of the house who seems to have swallowed his own testicles.
He’s only tough against other republicans.
So any kind of effective resistance that could have been had by Congress over Obama sending us into Libya was cut off by Boehner the Bonehead.
We live in dangerous times.
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