Farnborough, England, Nov. 13 (UPI) - British company BAE Systems has carried out the successful 'First Metal Cut' on its $250 million Taranis Technology Demonstrator program.
The Taranis program "will see the BAE Systems Hawk-sized Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle - UCAV - demonstrator begin a series of flight trials during 2010," the company said in a statement Monday.
BAE Systems said Taranis was a British Ministry of Defense-led project that was "supported by an industry consortium led by BAE Systems (which) will offer the (British) government a chance to assess the potential of UCAVs in terms of Deep Persistent Offensive Capability and will help the armed forces inform the balance of the future Force Mix."
BAE Systems said it had "made a significant investment over several years in the development of UAS capabilities before winning the Taranis TDP contract where it is working alongside three other Tier 1 partners: QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and GE Aviation to deliver the four year program."
the company said.
BAE Systems describes itself as "the premier global defense and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 96,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded $27 billion in 2006."
