A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Cassidian on behalf of EADS Deutschland GmbH and Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) to establish a close collaboration in the Talarion programme. The MoU was signed during an official ceremony at the 10th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) held in Istanbul.

Signed in the presence of Murad Bayar, The Honourable Undersecretary for Defence Industries and Thomas Kossendey, Germany's Deputy Defence Minister, this new agreement further reinforces the presence of Turkey in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) multinational collaborative programmes.

Talarion is the European programme for a next-generation Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) advanced Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to fulfil the requirements initially placed by France, Germany and Spain for future unmanned long endurance surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The novel aspect of this approach is a modular design and the integration of the UAV in a network-enabled operations scenario.

Turkey has always advocated to participate in this major European programme with the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) agreeing significant investment and integration in the Talarion prototype programme team by major companies of the Turkish industry led by TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc.).

The prototype will be the first development standard following an interactive design approach. First flight of the prototype is scheduled for 2014. To achieve this goal, Cassidian has created a dedicated co-located plateau phase with engineers from France, Spain, Turkey and Germany including main suppliers. Today around 160 engineers are working in the Talarion plateau.

Being the first Unmanned Aerial System that will operate within civil airspace, Talarion can be used for a variety of security missions amongst others such as anti-piracy, drug control, border protection and ecological and natural crisis management.

"Cassidian is very pleased and honored to welcome TAI as part of the Talarion Team", said Bernhard Gerwert, Chief Executive Officer of Cassidian Air Systems, adding : "This next-generation MALE UAS is of outmost importance since it will fulfill government security missions and commercial activities which are not accessible to current solutions and their derivatives. With this industrial commitment we strongly believe that the potential customers will decide soon to support this unique product."

"We look forward to the progress of this programme which offers the highest performance of its class, incorporating the most modern modular sensor suite and data links" explained Muharrem Dortkasli, Chief Executive Officer and President, Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. adding : "TAI is very proud to integrate such a challenging breakthrough, paving the way to a new generation of operational capabilities ."