France, UK to firm up co-operation on combat drones

PARIS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - France and Britain prepared on Wednesday to launch the initial stages of joint development of a combat drone, aiming for potential deployment from 2030.

The first formal step follows provisional agreements to co-operate earlier this year and will result in contracts with six companies including France's Dassault Aviation (Paris: FR0000121725 - news) and Britain's BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) for a two-year feasibility study, French officials familiar with the scheme said.

Also involved are UK engine maker Rolls-Royce and its French counterpart Safran (Paris: FR0000073272 - news) as well as electronics groups Thales (Paris: FR0000121329 - news) of France and Selex ES, a partially UK-based subsidiary of Italy's Finmeccanica (Other OTC: FINMF - news) .

The companies are expected to pool studies that could, if given further approval, lead to a demonstrator to be ready in 2017, the officials added.

The contracts are expected to be signed in Paris later on Wednesday.

France and Britain agreed in principle to co-operate on armed drones at a summit in January and followed this up with a further commitment to carry out feasibility work worth 150 million euros ($187 million) at the Farnborough Airshow in July.

(1 US dollar = 0.8012 euro) (Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by Mark Potter)