Defense and security company Saab has signed a frame agreement and received a first order from the EADS company Cassidian to supply safety-critical avionics equipment for the new advanced UAV system Talarion.

The order includes design and development of the Aircraft Vehicle Management Computer (AVMC), Communications Computer (CC) and Mission & Payload Management Computer (MPMC) for Talarion. The work will be carried out by the Avionics Division of Saab's business area Electronic Defense Systems, in Jonkoping and Jarfalla, Sweden, and deliveries of the first order will take place 2012-2014.

"The selection of Saab to provide mission and flight critical avionics equipment for this new advanced platform proves our position as a competitive supplier in the avionics market," says Micael Johansson, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab's business area Electronic Defense Systems.

"It also acknowledges our product strategy of developing common avionics building blocks that could be adapted for many different functions for various customer needs."

Talarion is a European development program to fulfill functional and operational capability for in-theatre ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance).

Due to its specific design, Talarion is able to operate over its broad flight envelope spectrum thereby establishing persistent surveillance, precise adversary identification, localization and real-time intelligence.