First Formation Flight With Combat Drone And Manned Aircraft

Dassault Aviation has conducted a formation flight of the nEUROn unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with a Rafale Fighter and a Falcon 7x business jet.  According to Dassault Aviation the flight that took place near France on March 20 was the first time an unmanned combat aircraft had achieved formation flight.

The carefully planned demonstration involved the nEUROn, the Rafale, the Falcon X and two camera chase planes, all of which flew in a planned sequence while keeping station in relation to one another. Engineers were faced with the challenge of making sure nEUROn could detect other planes an stay out of their way, and also be capable of handling variables like turbulence and any electromagnetic interference that could pose a risk of communication interference. The flight lasted nearly 2 hours and flew over several hundred kilometers out above the mediterranean.