French Espadon programme completed
France's DGA Espadon programme, carried out by ECA Group, Thales and DCNS, has been successfully completed, ECA announced on 8 September.
The programme achieved a number of successes, including the development of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) launch and recovery system from an unmanned surface vehicle (USV).
The Espadon programme was carried out under France's overarching Système de Lutte Anti-Mines Futur (SLAMF) future mine countermeasures programme. It aimed to prove that robotic systems could be used for underwater mine warfare operations instead of conventional minehunters to reduce the risk to minehunter crews.
ECA was in charge of all the robotics components of the system, producing the long endurance A27 AUV, the A18-T inpection AUV, the Sterenn-Du USV remote control system, as well as the AUV launch and recovery system.
During the programme, the Sterenn-Du deployed both the A27 and A18-T AUVs, demonstrating that it was possible for USVs to deploy AUVs for full-scale mine countermeasure operations making way for a new generation of unmanned mine countermeasure operations.
The A27 AUV was selected for the Anglo-French Maritime Mine Counter Measure (MMCM) programme as a direct result of the Espadon programme. The programme has also enabled ECA to develop a solution for the recovery of AUVs in high sea states by the use of a sub-sea cage and docking system.
More from Uncrewed Vehicles
-
![US Army moves forward on future tactical UAS without AeroVironment]()
US Army moves forward on future tactical UAS without AeroVironment
AeroVironment has been dropped from the hunt to provide the US Army with a Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS), leaving Griffon Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada and Textron Systems in the running.
-
![British Army eyes new small armed UAS capability]()
British Army eyes new small armed UAS capability
The UK MoD has released a request for information on small armed UAS which could be used by the British Army.
-
![General Atomics delivers first new build extended range MQ-9A to US Marine Corps]()
General Atomics delivers first new build extended range MQ-9A to US Marine Corps
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has delivered the first new build MQ-9 Extended Range (ER) to the US Marine Corps (USMC).
-
![Highway landing opens door to future MQ-9 Reaper capabilities]()
Highway landing opens door to future MQ-9 Reaper capabilities
The US has landed an MQ-9 Reaper UAV on a highway for the first time as part of Exercise Agile Chariot.
-
![SOF Week 2023: AeroVironment introduces VTOL kit for Puma AE UAS (video)]()
SOF Week 2023: AeroVironment introduces VTOL kit for Puma AE UAS (video)
AeroVironment has introduced the Puma VTOL kit, designed for plug-and-play integration into Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE small uncrewed aircraft systems.
