A detachment of CLAEX, with 2 planes alongside support from the 11th Wing maintenance personnel, has been relocated to Istres Air Base in France, where they partook in a flight test campaign with the UAV nEURON.
The development of nEURON is the result of a European partnership led by the French company Dassault Aviation, with the technological contribution from industrial members of the countries involved (i.e. Spain, previously known as EADS-CASA).
Spain (and more specifically her fighter planes) was invited to participate in this campaign after formal invitation from the French DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement).
The main objective of the test was to evaluate the level of detectability of the UAV when confronted with the array of sensors available in the Eurofighter: air to air radar, IRST (Infrared Search and Track) as well as IRIS-T missiles.
One has to take into account that the UAV nEURON was designed as stealth aircraft with very low level radar signatures and infrared- which is why there was great interest to test this system with radars and other aerial sensors.
First published on December 28, 2018 on the Spanish Ministry of Defence website.
Translated by: Chloe-Alexandra Laird from the original Spanish.