The final assembly of Dassault nEUROn unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator is in full swing at Istres, France. According to the company, the six-nation collaborative programme is on schedule. All subassemblies have been delivered, including the low-observable parts of the structure coming from Dassault’s Argenteuil and Biarritz factories.

Thierry Prunier, Senior Vice President UAV and UCAV programmes, has said that although only one Neuron air vehicle is being completed for flight test, up to four examples of each subassembly have been built. The additional examples are being tested in the “global integration rig” at Istres, or for other “real-hardware-inthe-loop” tests. Four pre-integration rigs have been used: one at Saint-Cloud, France, for the flight control system; two at Getafe, Spain, for the ground control and datalink management systems; and one at Linköping, Sweden, for avionics.

During the last quarter of 2011, the Dassault Aviation team will perform the ground tests of the nEUROn, which would be followed by the first engine run-up by 2011 end. The maiden flight is scheduled by mid-2012. This will include down time for low-observability testing in a French anechoic chamber, followed by second- and third-phase flight tests in Sweden and Italy.

The nEUROn was originally planned by Dassault as “AVE Grand Duc” and later it evolved into a European cooperation including Swedish Saab, Greek EAB, Swiss RUAG Aerospace, Spanish EADS CASA and Italian Alenia.

The Dassault team, assisted by the teams from various industrial partners, will perform the final layout, piping, electrical wiring and equipment fitting, as defined in the digital mock-up reference established by the six partners on the virtual plateau, as well as the final assembly.