Dassault nEUROn The Dassault nEUROn is an experimental Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle ( UCAV ) being developed with international cooperation , led by the French company Dassault Aviation . Description . This delta wing stealth UCAV project is the final phase of the French Dassault LOGIDUC 3 - step stealth " combat drone " programme . Until June 2005 it had the form of the original Dassault developed Grand Duc vehicle : supersonic two - engined long - range unmanned bomber , capable of performing attacks with nuclear weapons . Under the pressure of the international cooperation , especially from Sweden and Saab , it was transformed into a demonstrator of smaller single - engine technology . So it is now optimised for the testing of various technologies for the future UAVs and UCAVs , and will not enter serial production . It will only clear the way for a commercial product , that will use the technologies developed thanks to the nEUROn program . The full scale replica of the current configuration was unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2005 . The nEUROn development , originally planned by Dassault as " AVE Grand Duc " , evolved into a European cooperation including Swedish Saab AB , Greek EAB , Swiss RUAG Aerospace , Spanish EADS CASA and Italian Alenia , with Dassault as the lead contractor . As a " technology demonstrator " , only single vehicle will be produced to explore new operational concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighter aircraft that will be produced beyond 2020 . This is advocated by the statement that the industrial partners want to invest more in technology development , rather than manufacturing of the flying hardware , despite the risk of the loss of the single prototype . However Dassault plans to primarily use the data collected by the demonstrator to produce derived UCAVs . The French maker states the nEUROn ' s Adour engine ( tuned from the SEPECAT Jaguar ) will be replaced in the production version by a more powerful , specific , engine based on Snecma ' s M88 from the Dassault Rafale . According to the DGA , nEUROn test flights were planned in France , Sweden and Italy in early 2010 , but were delayed . Its first flight was at the end of 2012 . While nEUROn was on display at the Paris Air Show 2013 , it did not fly due to reluctance by European and American civil aviation authorities to allow UAVs to fly out of closed airspace . Program goals . The program has three stated goals : Platform . As a UCAV , nEUROn will be significantly larger and more advanced than other well - known UAV systems like the MQ - 1 Predator , with ranges , payloads and capabilities that approach those of manned fighter aircraft . Although the project is not yet closely defined , illustrations and statements by the consortium partners indicate that the nEUROn is envisioned as a competitive system with the American J - UCAS program ' s Boeing X - 45 C or Northrop - Grumman X - 47B . Indeed , Saab ' s February 9 , 2006 release notes that nEUROn will be a demonstrator measuring 10 m long by 12 m wide and weighing in at 5 tons . This is roughly the size of a Mirage 2000 fighter . The aircraft will have unmanned autonomous air - to - ground attack capabilities with precision guided munitions , relying on an advanced stealth airframe design to penetrate undetected . Another feature being contemplated is the ability to control squad flight in automatic mode from an advanced fighter like the Rafale or JAS 39 Gripen platform , grouping the nEUROns and controlling the group in a manner similar to many combat real - time strategy computer games . Project history . In 1999 , Dassault Aviation launched its LOGIDUC stealth UCAV program , which gave birth to the Dassault AVE - D Petit Duc that flew in July 2000 as the first stealth UAV in Europe , and to the Dassault AVE - C Moyen Duc ( 2001 ) . Dassault changed the third phase name " Grand Duc " - a full - scale advanced version of the Moyen Duc - to the more European sounding nEUROn , as the French project was joined by European partners to reduce its development cost . Great Britain didn ' t join because it was already involved with an American similar program , neither Germany who desisted officially because the country was unable to afford the financial participation . During the 2003 Paris Air Show , French Minister of Defence Mme Michèle Alliot - Marie announced a major agreement signed between the French groups EADS France , Dassault Aviation and Thales . The agreement covered a joint - venture to " realise a new unmanned military technology that covers all future activity in combat and strategic reconnaissance aeronautics " " i . e . " LOGIDUC ' s phase three , " Grand Duc " . EADS leads a HALE ( High Altitude , Long Endurance ) UAV project . Meanwhile , the French defence procurement agency , DGA , acting as the program executive on behalf of the participating countries , has entrusted development of the first nEUROn UCAV demonstrator to Dassault Aviation and its European partners . Sub - contracts have been made with the French industrial firms Thales and EADS France and also with five European firms , Saab ( Sweden ) , EAB ( Greece ) , Alenia ( Italy ) , RUAG Aerospace ( Switzerland ) and EADS CASA ( Spain ) . Chief project manager Thierry Prunier comes from Dassault Aviation , and the deputy project managers are Mats Ohlson of Saab and Ermanno Bertolina of Alenia . There is a single link between the executive agency ( DGA ) and the prime contractor ( Dassault ) , and it will be up to the executive agency to coordinate with the government agencies of the participating countries . It will be up to the prime contractor , meanwhile , to coordinate the work with the other industries . After Spain joined the programme in early February 2006 ( Belgium could join later ) , work breakdown among the European industrial partners was planned as follows : Dassault claims 50 % of development and is responsible for the standalone LOGIDUC programme . The nEUROn ( 2010 ) will be the third Dassault stealth UAV prototype following the AVE - D Petit Duc ( 2000 ) & AVE - C Moyen Duc ( 2004 ) . The nEUROn project replaces the LOGIDUC final phase AVE Grand Duc . Saab claims 25 % of development and is also the coordinator for the other Swedish corporations involved . Thanks to the technologies developed for the UAV prototype Sky - x ( 2003 ) Alenia Aeronautica was the first industrial partner and claims a 25 % share of the entire programme . Flight testing . The nEUROn made its first flight on December 1 , 2012 in France . Flights are to continue in France until 2014 , when they will be moved to Sweden for operational trials , then to Italy to measure stealth characteristics and for live - firing tests . Funding . The contract is valued at €405 million , and allows industry to begin a three - year system definition and design phase with related low - observability studies . This phase will be followed by the development and assembly phase , and by a first flight in 2011 . It is planned that the 2 - year flight - test program ( 2010 – 2012 ) will entail about 100 sorties , including the launch of a laser - guided bomb tentatively scheduled for 2012 . The initial €400 million budget was increased by €5 million in 2006 due to the addition of a modular bomb bay including a designator and a laser - guided bomb . On February 2006 , DGA had announced that France will provide €202 . 5 million , half of the program ' s €405 million ( $ 480 million ) budget , while the remaining funds will be supplied by the other participating member nations . In December 2005 , the Swedish defence ministry reported the national share would be €75 million , of which €66 million would be financed by Saab AB . The cost of Spain ' s participation to the program is estimated at €35 . 5 million , spread over the 2007 - 2012 period . Derived production UCAV unit cost is estimated by Dassault to be €25 million .