AWST:
https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...4-march-2-2022
Airbus has demonstrated the ability to launch an uncrewed aerial system from an A400M airlifter, a capability that could become a critical component of the European Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
Flight trials undertaken late last year but announced by the OEM on Feb. 21 saw an Airbus-built Do-DT25 target drone deployed from the cargo bay of the A400M over northern Germany.
The launch system was developed by German companies Geradts and SFL, in conjunction with the German aerospace center DLR, under the German-funded Innovations for FCAS initiative, which is designed to involve nontraditional defense companies in development of the Franco-German-Spanish next-generation fighter……
The air-launched demonstration involved a modified company A400M crewed by German Air Force and Airbus flight-test personnel.
As well as the launch demonstration, Airbus tested Modular Airborne Combat Cloud Services that allowed the drone to transmit data back to the A400M as it descended under a parachute for recovery. Such a data transfer, Airbus says, demonstrates how remote carriers can also be connected to a proposed FCAS combat cloud and provide battlefield information during their missions.
Airbus says it will now continue its validation of the A400M as an airborne launch platform for remote carriers, stating that as many as 40 could be launched from the airlifter’s cargo hold.
Future testing is expected to be integrated into the German Air Force’s Timber Express data link exercises. The company says the approach will bring “remote carriers closer to the fight, providing the numbers for a Future Combat System to overwhelm an opponent in a well-protected environment.”
https://second.wiki/wiki/eads_do-dt_25