“The excellent collaboration with our Gerɱaп customer and partners on the A400M UAV Launcher campaign is further evidence of how the development of FCAS will take innovation and technologies to the next level,” said Airbus Defence and Space CEO Michael Schoellhorn. “FCAS as a system of systems is starting to take shape now.”
The device for launching Remote Carriers from a flying A400M was developed in just six months. For the test flight, it was loaded onto the ramp of a Bundeswehr A400M, from which the Remote Carrier demonstrator, a modified Airbus Do-DT25 drone, was launched. After the release, the Do-DT25’s engines were started and it continued in powered flight mode. The crew on board the A400M then handed over control to an operator on the ground, who safely comɱaпded and landed the drone.
This enabled the multidisciplinary team to develop and integrate the system, bringing it into the needed systems-of-systems context in a very short ᴛι̇ɱe, ready for flight testing. Throughout the development, this flexible industrial setup and new collaborative ways of working were supported by the Gerɱaп procurement office, BAAINBw.
