The EADS Barracuda was a jet powered

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

(UAV), EADS, used for the role of

aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or Strategy, strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including Artillery observer, artillery spott ...

and also

combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

(like UCAV). The aircraft was a joint venture between

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Development of the project was stopped after the first

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

crashed at Mar Menor while approaching for landing during a test flight. The program was resumed in 2008, with a second prototype being completed in November 2008. The rebuilt Barracuda underwent a series of successful flight tests in Goose Bay, Canada during July 2009, followed by further flight campaigns in 2010 and 2012. The Barracuda's primary competition was Dassault nEUROn for strategic and

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

contracts. Both were stealthy and had a maximum air speed of around

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

0.85. While

and

were behind the Barracuda,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and

as well funded the

nEUROn A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

. It had an operating ceiling of around and carried a maximum payload of 300 kg. It was retired after six test campaigns.

Development

The Barracuda originated as a UAV design study, intended to push EADS into the market for medium-altitude long-range UAVs, a market they viewed as dominated by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Its development initially began in 2003 in secrecy. It was financed by

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, along with support from the German Federal Ministry of Defense, the German Procurement agency BAAINBw, and the Wehrtechnische Dienststellen. Its official debut took place at the 2006 International Aerospace Exhibition, where military applications and specifications for the Barracuda were revealed. The Barracuda crashed in Mar Menor at Region de Murcia during a 2006 test flight, which put the project on hold until 2008. They also planned to develop the Barracuda as a modular platform, so that it could be refitted for various roles like maritime patrol. Offensive capabilities were not planned, but it could carry weapons if customers expressed interest for it. The Barracuda could also be capable of carrying weapon systems. The systems could be installed in the central payload bay. Germany also discussed a partnership with Sweden and

for a multinational unmanned aerial vehicle effort in order to compete with the French-led Dassault nEUROn programme. Spain, Italy and Sweden were already participants in the French-led effort.Important player in Neuron

Design

The Barracuda was based on commercially available 'off the shelf' components, but also many refined systems. Its fuselage was constructed entirely from

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

, but also had a greater strength to weight ratio than traditional aircraft materials such as

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

(the structure of the Eurofighter Typhoon and

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...

were also made significantly out of it). The only significant metal component was the wing spar, running through the middle and reinforcing the wings. The wing spar allowed for easy removal of the wings for transportation. The payload was to be mostly for reconnaissance and observational purposes, including an Emitter Location System (ELS) , a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and an array of Electro-Optical Sensors. After its retirement, its technology is said to be repurposed in the Eurodrone, and the Future Combat Air System.

Specifications

References

Sources

External links

EADS Cassidian Barracuda page

News on the Barracuda from Airbus
{{Airbus aircraft International unmanned aerial vehicles 2000s international military reconnaissance aircraft Unmanned stealth aircraft

Barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...