posted on Jan, 7 2007 @ 06:16 PM
It’s the Dassault AVE-C (also referred to as Petit Duc C) which was developed under the LogiDuc programme and first flown in June 2003. It’s a
development of the AVE-D (Petit Duc) and shares the same intake, landing gear and engine configurations as that aircraft but with a different wing and
tailless configuration; most sources put it at the same size as the original Petit Duc.
While the AVE-D was designed to validate signature reduction measures the C version was developed to demonstrate unstable yaw control. Whether
Dassault made any attempt at reducing the vehicles signature as they did with the AVE-D is unknown.
It was to be followed by the Moyen and Grand Duc U(C)AVs but the launch of Neuron changed these plans.
Wingspan – 2.4m
Length – 2.4 m
Weight (Empty) – 35 kg
MTOW – 60 kg
Power Plant –2x gas turbine (likely AMT Olympus)
Max Speed – 600 kph
Launch Method(s) – Conventional runway
Recovery Method(s) – Conventional runway
Westpoint, just a minor point; Neuron isn’t intended to go into production, in fact the programme won’t aspire to meet any operational
requirements beyond the basics such as “achieve low observability” etc.
The design has also been changed since the mock-up was displayed, it looks externally the same but it has increased slightly in size for example.