Europe to cut reliance on US, Israeli drones

Germany, France, and Italy signed a deal to start technical work on the “Euro-drone” in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday. The scheme for the medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft, to be made by 2025, could be worth up to EUR one billion (USD 1.2 billion) if it gets airborne.
 
“The goal of the Euro-drone is that we can decide by ourselves in Europe on what we use it, where we deploy the Euro-drone and how we use it,” said German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. “This makes us, the Europeans, independent.”
 
Her French opposite number Jean-Yves Le Drian said the Euro-drone deal was a “very important step for European cooperation.”
 
Airbus, France’s Dassault Aviation and Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi are behind the proposal.
 
For a decade, European powers have been fruitlessly trying to come up with a common drone project. The failure to see eye to eye on the matter has been forcing Britain, Italy, and France to fly US-made Reaper drones and reduced Paris and Berlin to use Israeli-built machines.
 
A prototype of a European stealth combat drone dubbed “Neuron” made its maiden flight from a base in the southern French city of Istres in 2012 and a year later, several European Union countries, including France and Germany, agreed to form a “drone users club” to develop a rival to the US and Israeli UAVs.