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Modified Airbus A400M Atlas Becomes Drone Mothership, We’ll See More of That Soon

The world’s militaries, especially aviation branches, are operating with increasingly new concepts. Over in Europe, one of them would be the Future Combat Air System, a thing described as a “system of systems” and which will require the integration of several aerial assets into an effective formation.
Airbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M Atlas 7 photos
Photo: Airbus
Airbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M AtlasAirbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M AtlasAirbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M AtlasAirbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M AtlasAirbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M AtlasAirbus Do-DT25 being launched from an Airbus A400M Atlas
More to the point, FCAS, as it’s known, will bring together the continent’s next-generation fighter (now a global project known as the Global Combat Air Program), Remote Carriers (drones), and a so-called combat cloud, among others.

Back in February this year, Airbus, which is a big partner in FCAS, announced it successfully deployed a drone from the opened rear cargo ramp of an Airbus A400M Atlas, while the thing was flying. At the time the drone, an Airbus Do-DT25, was more or less dropped from the plane, and only data transmission between plane and drone was tested.

This week though Airbus announced a German Air Force Atlas became a full-blown mothership for drones, as the Do-DT25 was not only successfully launched, but also partially operated from inside the flying transport plane.

Airbus calls the test the “world’s first successful launch and operation of a Remote Carrier,” and had to have the Atlas modified with a special launch device to support the mission. Once airborne and the engines started, control of the drone was transferred to a station on the ground.

All this might not seem all that much of an achievement, but Europeans plan to use these drones extensively in coming wars. They’ll be deployed either from the ground or from airborne motherships to support crewed military aircraft.

Once development of the FCAS is ready, the Atlas alone, for instance, will be able to send into combat up to 50 small or up to 12 heavy drones, deployed from very close to the front lines and high above the battlefield.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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