TAI and Cassidian sign cooperation protocol for Talarion

Tiaan Roux

Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. and German Cassidian signed a cooperation protocol for the development, production and marketing of the unmanned aerial vehicle “Talarion” in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAS) and German Cassidian signed a cooperation protocol for the development, production and marketing of the unmanned aerial vehicle “Talarion” in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The protocol was signed on the sidelines of the 10th International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF’11) in Istanbul.

Talarion is an advanced twin-jet unmanned air vehicle (UAV) system developed by EADS to meet the requirements of France, Germany and Spain for a fully autonomous Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) airborne platform. The program was officially launched at the Paris Air Show on June 15, 2009. The UAV prototype is expected to take to the air for the first time in 2013 with first production series deliveries in 2015.

Each Talarion system consists of three UAVs fitted with a modular sensor/payload plus a ground control station. Military customers will get unlimited control of their missions and the data obtained therein. France and Germany will receive six systems each with 18 UAVs while Spain would order three systems with nine UAVs.