It is suspected that European Union subsidies may be used by the greek Public Order Ministry for the purchase of the some UAVs though it remains unclear what sum has been earmarked for the investment, how many drones the ministry is seeking to acquire, and what type. The purpose of the Public Order Ministry regarding the acquisition of the UAVs is to bolster the efforts of the Greek Police (ELAS) to monitor the country’s borders and curb illegal immigration as well as cracking down on organized crime and domestic terrorism.
Development on the EADS Barracuda fully-autonomous, medium-altitude, long-range UAV began in 2003, and is backed by both Germany and Spain. Despite crashing during a 2006 test flight, which grounded the project for nearly two years, the Barracuda has since successfully completed more than a dozen test flights.
Barracuda is built from a mix of off the shelf components and custom hardware systems. Its entire fuselage — save for a pair of reinforcing wing spars — is composed of the same carbon fibre composite that covers the Eurofighter Typhoon. What’s more, the 8m long, 2.7-tonne demonstrator does almost entirely away with hydraulics — aside from the landing gear, the UAV operates entirely on electronic actuators. And while it isn’t as quick as the Taranis, the Barracuda reportedly packs a 14kN Pratt & Whitney jet turbine capable of achieving mach .85 with a 6000 m service ceiling and an estimated 200km operational radius.
For the foreseeable future, the Barracuda will remain a developmental test bed for future Cassian UAV technologies with hopes of eventually developing a system that can operate in unsegregated airspace alongside manned and civilian aircraft. And with both the nEUROn and Taranis gunning for deployment by the end of the decade, the skies over Europe are going to get crowded.
The Taranis, named for the Celtic god of thunder will fly faster than the speed of sound and beyond the eye of enemy radar with its single-wing stealth design.
