Airbus Defense & Space has traditionally had an image of a secondary player in the field of combat aircrafts and armed air systems design, having never before conducted a program of this type in complete autonomy. Faced with the French Dassault Aviation and its Rafale and Mirage, or the English BAe and its Harrier or Buccaneer, the collaboration of Airbus DS and its components in the Typhoon and Tornado programs appeared, in fact, to be in retreat. And this hierarchy appeared at in the FCAS program, as the NGF (Next Generation Fighter) design, the new aircraft at the heart of the system, was entrusted to Dassault Aviation, while the systems system was entrusted to the European industrialist with a strong Germanic accent. In fact, the presentation of the new LOUT demonstrator, for Low Observable UAV Testbed, as its name suggests a demonstrator of stealth technologies applied to a drone, not only surprised the European aeronautical defense ecosystem, but it can, potentially, significantly evolve the balance of power that underlie this same ecosystem.
The first key point of LOUT is its confidentiality. Indeed, the program, started in 2007, remained out of the media for almost 12 years, like the program of the famous Skunk Work by Lockheed, which had designed, among other things, the U2, SR71, and F117 aircrafts. This filiation was also mentioned, without being confirmed, by Mario Hertzog, in charge of the FCAS program at Airbus DS, during the presentation of the new drone. In any case, the European aeronautical company has shown that it too is able to carry out, in complete autonomy, complex and confidential programs.
The rest of this article is for subscribers only
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
all articles without advertising, starting at € 1,99.
Newsletter subscription
Register for the Meta-Defense Newsletter to receive the
latest fashion articles daily or weekly