• Tri-national programme officially named "Talarion"
• Eye-catcher at Paris Air Show displayed in Hall 2A

At the Paris Air Show 2009, EADS Defence & Security (DS) presents the mock-up of the the latest unmanned aerial system:

the Advanced UAV, the proposed Franco-German-Spanish UAV programme for the development and production of a fully autonomous system for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions.

On the occasion of the debut of the full-scale model, DS announced the brand name "Talarion", derived from the winged sandals of Hermes in the Greek mythology, enabling him to fly over great distances and faster than anyone.

Talarion, with it's 27,90 m wing span, is a joint endeavour of DS in France, Germany and Spain. The modular UAV is based upon the results of a comprehensive risk reduction study, which was concluded in May this year. Given a governmental go-ahead for development in 2009, the maiden flight of "Talarion" would be in 2013, and with first series deliveries in 2015. The industry proposal to the three partner nations contains six Talarion systems for France and Germany each, and three for Spain, respectively. One system consists of three Talarion units plus ground segment. In addition to the three partner nations, there is also an growing interest on the advanced UAV programme Talarion in the international markets.