Paris, 4 June 2008 – On Wednesday the Assembly spoke out in favour of pursuing European technology demonstrator programmes for unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) and recommended launching “a coordinated process of reflection within NATO and the EU on the requirements and doctrines for the use of UCAV systems”.

Submitting a report to the Assembly on behalf of the Technical and Aerospace Committee, Nigel Evans (United Kingdom, Federated Group) stressed how “the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of unpiloted aircraft for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance or ground attack”. He noted that these “aircraft are today present in all the armies of Europe, with the exception of the attack variant which remains the monopoly of the United States with its Predator series”.

He added that the European Defence Agency had a pilot project for introducing unmanned aircraft into European civilian and military air control systems. However there is one area, that of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV), where Europe is striving to achieve excellence over the United States, “the pioneer country in this field”. In both Europe and the United States, the maiden flights of the UCAV systems, currently in the demonstrator phase, are scheduled for 2011 at the earliest.

The Rapporteur also noted that the race for UCAV technology was not only motivated by operational requirements but that the main object of the exercise was “to maintain knowhow, acquire knowledge and master technologies for other defence or civil industrial sectors”.

Regretting the “fragmentation and duplication” of the three European projects (Neuron, Taranis and Barracuda), the Assembly would like to see “the states and companies engaged in that research cooperate more closely in order to set up a common European programme” which “should fully involve NATO, the European Defence Agency and OCCAR so as to reduce the risks of duplication and institutional rivalry”.

During the debate that followed, several speakers highlighted the importance of the recommendation to “ensure that all transatlantic technology transfers in this field are two-way, taking into account the national security interests of states and industrial interests in Europe”.