A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Cassidian on behalf of EADS Deutschland GmbH and Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) to establish a close collaboration in the Talarion unmanned aerial system (UAS) program.
The MoU was signed during an official ceremony at the 10th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) held in Istanbul.
The MoU further reinforces the presence of Turkey in UAS multinational collaborative programs.
Talarion is the European program for a next-generation Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) advanced UAS to fulfil the requirements initially placed by France, Germany and Spain for future unmanned long endurance surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The novel aspect of this approach is a modular design and the integration of the UAV in a network-enabled operations scenario.
The prototype will be the first development standard following an interactive design approach. First flight of the prototype is scheduled for 2014. To achieve this goal, Cassidian has created a dedicated co-located plateau phase with engineers from France, Spain, Turkey and Germany including main suppliers. Today around 160 engineers are working in the Talarion plateau.
Being the first Unmanned Aerial System that will operate within civil airspace, Talarion can be used for a variety of security missions amongst others such as anti-piracy, drug control, border protection and ecological and natural crisis management.