GMV wins the contract for the EURODRONE Programme Ground Flight Control Computer (GFCC)

The Eurodrone Programme is undoubtedly the most challenging cooperation program within this kind of airframe. Born as an agreement reached by the European Council in December 2013, it has among its main objectives to provide partner nations with an air strategic/operational system with state-of-the-art JISR capabilities. Such goal is achieved by means of an UAS capable of flying up to an altitude of 13 Km with maximum speed of 500 km/h and a maximum flight time of 18 to 40 hours, depending on the mission profile.

The GFCC is a DAL-A safety critical system in charge of managing all the flight commands from the Designated UAS Operator (DUO) to be sent to the UAS, as well as displaying systems information so that the DUO has accurate data to perform the mission. Eurodrone is designed for flight in non-segregated airspace, and in order to meet the demanding safety requirements several GFCCs are installed in every Ground Control Station (GCS).

Each GFCC has several boards, COTS and bespoke, within a 19” chassis. GMV will be responsible of the production of all items, the qualification test campaign, and the acceptance tests, which include burn-in test procedures.