Dronamics and Hensoldt fly an early-warning system on the unmanned Black Swan

Dronamics and Hensoldt said they had flown an airborne early-warning and surveillance system on the unmanned Black Swan aircraft for the first time, in a test in Bulgaria.

The companies describe the platform as the first all-European unmanned airborne early-warning system. The Black Swan sits in NATO's Class III category, for aircraft over 600 kg, and its heavy-lift capacity lets radar and electro-optical sensors carry out several missions in one flight.

Hensoldt's MissionGrid package, made up of the PrecISR radar, the Argos camera and MissMarvin software, and the MDOcore networking software were validated in flight, the companies said. The system detected and tracked moving vehicles, targets on the ground and ships on the Danube.

The platform is free of US export controls under ITAR, so European buyers can buy and export it without US approval, according to the companies.

Dronamics and Hensoldt announced their partnership in Munich in February and say they have now moved it to operational use. They offer the system as a much cheaper alternative to crewed AWACS aircraft for NATO's eastern flank and the Black Sea region, as NATO replaces its E-3 fleet with the Saab GlobalEye.