European Drone Plan Seeks Political Backing as in Boost to EADS - b y Joseph de Weck & Brian Parkin

European Stealth Neuron Drone

France and Germany  are set to renew efforts to work on a joint unmanned aerial vehicle, supporting European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EAD) in its attempt to compete in a market now dominated by Israeli and U.S. companies.

Efforts to strengthen ties will probably be discussed when French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian meets his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere tomorrow, Christian Schmidt, state secretary for Germany’s Ministry of Defense, said. Senior politicians are gathering to celebrate a treaty signed in 1963 that sealed the two countries’ friendship after World War II.

“There is a desire to explore development of a European drone,” Schmidt said in an interview in Berlin. “A European drone solution has to have more capability than current U.S. systems to make sense,” such as enhanced communications so spy drones can safely fly in civil airspace with airliners, he said.

A Franco-German drone agreement would come about two years after France committed to working closely with the U.K. on unmanned aircraft programs. That pact saw BAE Systems Plc (BA/) and Dassault Aviation SA (AM) join up to develop a system, in a move that sidelined EADS, the parent of Airbus SAS.

EADS said last year that it wasn’t continuing with its own Talarion drone after failing to win government funding.

Read more: European Drone Plan Seeks Political Backing as in Boost to EADS - Bloomberg