A European Drone by 2025? The View from Spain on EUROMALE

In February 2015, after several years of overlapping initiatives and projects, the Spanish Ministry of Defence approved the RPAS Master Plan1. It identifies the required capabilities in the field of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems for the period 2015‐2026. The Master Plan was designed to assess the RPAS state‐of‐the‐art and identify the needs of the Armed Forces at short (2016), medium (2020) and long (2026) term.

According to the assessment, Spain had no RPAS system in the category of over 600 kg (Class III). The Master Plan therefore advised immediate procurement of RPAS as a temporary bridging solution. It also recommended entry into a European research and development program that could deliver an advanced RPAS around 2017‐2020. Accordingly, Spain evaluated and acquired the on‐the‐shelf American MQ‐9 Reaper as an interim solution to cover the lack of RPAS Class III systems and began to consider pros and cons of entering into a European co‐operative program…