BAE Systems Taranis

The BAE Systems Taranis is a technology demonstrator for a British UCAV. It is part of the Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle ( Experimental ) ( Suav [E ] ) program, whose goal is to develop an autonomous unmanned aircraft with stealth characteristics. Taranis is the Celtic god of the sky, weather and thunder.

Development

The development of Taranis UCAV - is led by BAE Systems, but involved in the program are also Rolls- Royce, General Electric, QinetiQ and the UK MoD. BAE Systems is responsible for the design, the cloak of invisibility and flight control and tests. QinetiQ developed artificial intelligence for autonomous flight and GE Aviation Systems controls the avionics on. The aircraft is powered by a Rolls- Royce Turbomeca Adour - MK951 turbofan.

BAE Systems Australia holds a 5 % stake in the program. The Taranis demonstrator will have a MTOW of 8000 kg and the dimensions of a BAE Hawk. In September 2007, the first parts were made, the assembly of the UCAV began in February 2008. On 12 July 2010 the finished Taranis demonstrator was presented to the public. The flight test was originally supposed to begin in 2011, first flight tests, however, took place in August 2013.