EXPO-SEDE_ET_2007_381405_EN.pdf — page 11

Many UAVs planned or in service with EU Member States are not of EU origin, even in those 
states that have an indigenous industry capable of producing them. The strong position of Israeli 
companies in developing UAVs is obvious. Although they provide many of the UAVs ordered 
by EU states, often these are ‘disguised’ as a European product, produced at least nominally by a 
European company. Frequently, the systems are given different designations to further hide their 
origin. For example, in 1998, Belgium ordered three B-Hunter UAV systems with 18 UAVs. 
They were produced by a consortium specifically set up for the production – Eagle, owned 50 
per cent by Sonaca (Belgium), 25 per cent by Thales-Belgium (Belgium) and 25 per cent by IAI 
(Israel)16. It is interesting to note is that only two other UAVs competed for the order: the 
French Sperwer and the Swiss Ranger. The latter is reality is another Israeli UAV produced by a 
European company17. 
 
The strong position of the two main Israeli UAV producers, IAI and Elbit, is also reflected in the 
fact that the UK selected the Elbit Hermes-450 UAV for its Watchkeeper programme (and 
renaming it Hermes, WK-450), and from the fact that France bought  Heron UAVs from IAI as 
an ‘interim’ solution for its MALE programme (and renaming Heron, Eagle). The Eagle will be 
used by EADS reconnaissance systems18. France requires up to 24 MALE UAVs and is most 
likely to order Eagle-2 UAVs, developed by IAI and EADS from the Eagle-1, which probably 
means that IAI will deliver a version of its Heron-2 UAV fitted with EADS sensors. 
 
US producers are also major suppliers to EU countries. While some of the supplies are related to 
military aid programmes (Poland’s acquisition of US UAVs is financed by US aid), US 
producers have strong products in the large Predator MALE and Global Hawk HALE UAVs. 
European industry has yet to develop such systems. 
 
Among the biggest UAV programme ongoing in the EU is the NATO Alliance Ground 
Surveillance (AGS) programme. This programme, worth over €3Bn, envisages NATO’s 
acquisition of a long-range airborne ground-surveillance capability based on four large aircraft 
and four RQ-4B Global Hawk UAVs19. The most important aspects of the NATO AGS here are: 
(i) the fact that the AGS will be NATO controlled and thereby will provide EU countries some 
access to long-range UAVs; (ii) the fact that there was no alternative for the US-produced RQ-4; 
and (iii) that the cost for the advanced and high-performance ground surveillance radar would be 
around €200m each. 
 
Germany also wants the Global Hawk, but in a SIGINT role – a version called Euro Hawk – 
carrying a European sensor package consisting of COMINT and ELINT equipment (produced 
respectively by Rohde & Schwarz and by EADS). Germany plans to buy 4-6 UAVs for around 
€600m to replace manned long-range Atlantic SIGINT aircraft20. There is a possibility of a 
second order for Euro Hawk UAVs equipped with radar for ground surveillance21. 
 
                                                 
16 AirForces Monthly, October 2001; Air & Cosmos, 31 August 2001. 
17 Jane’s Defence Weekly, 23 December 1998. Finland bought the Ranger in 1999 via the Swiss company RUAG. 
Biass, E. and Braybrook, R., ‘The UAV as sensor platform – from Pioneer to Global Hawk’, Armada International, 
Oct/Nov. 2001, p. 7. 
18 The French Heron/Eagle acquistion is called SIDM – Système Intermédiare de Drones Male and is channelled 
through EADS. AirForces Monthly, Nov. 2006, p. 10; Air & Cosmos, 16 Sep. 2005, p. 8. 
19 For more on the AGS see the NATO website, URL < http://www.nato.int/issues/ags/index.html>. The original 
plan foresaw equipping the aircraft and the UAV with a ground-surveillance radar, but by mid-2006 the radar for 
the UAVs was cancelled to save €800m, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 16 Aug. 2006, p. 7. 
20 Air & Cosmos, 28 Oct. 2005, p. 33; Soldat und Technik, July 2004, p. 33.  
21 AirForces Monthly, July 2004, p. 11. 
 
7