Confirmation was provided on the 26^th September by BAE Systems that work has commenced on the construction of its Taranis project. Taranis is an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) designed to assist the Ministry of Defence establish the balance of assets in respect of the future of UK armed forces. It takes its name from the Celtic God of Thunder.

Taranis is intended to provide valuable information to the MoD to help it deduce the best ways to equip areas of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance, or ‘ISTAR’, in years to come. The platform will be roughly comparable in size to BAE’s Hawk jet trainer, as used by the Red Arrows. Among Taranis’ features are stealth technology and independent operating systems, allowing it to actively shape its own path throughout the majority of missions.

Once complete, Taranis will undergo testing at ground level, which is slated to be undertaken around Spring 2009. Its initial flight will then follow a year later.

Taranis forms a component of the UK Government’s SUAV (E) – or ‘Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle’ (Experiment). Commenting on the new UCAV, the project leader, Jonathan Barrett, described it thus:

“This programme is not just about positioning UK industry and putting the UK on the map with cutting edge technology; it is also about forming the basis of the potential future Royal Air Force and our future potential capability.”

His comments were echoed by Mark Kane, BAE Systems’ Managing Director of Autonomous Systems and Future Capability, who added: “Taranis is one of the most important defence projects currently underway and will help maintain UK capability over the next 20 years.”

He continued: “It makes use of at least 10 years of research into low observables, systems integration, control infrastructure and full autonomy. It builds on a number of successes with risk reduction programmes and it harnesses a range of new skills acquired around rapid engineering.” 

While a large number of firms are combining their resources in respect of Taranis, BAE Systems is spearheading the project. Among the other companies involved are QinetiQ and Rolls-Royce.  

Source – Armed Forces International’s Aviation Expert

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