The Air and Space Forces receive its first DG-1001eNEO glider
The EIVV teams from Salon de Provence are in awe of their new mountain. © AE
While a few weeks ago it parted ways with a large number of its older generation gliders, the Air Force has just received a modern two-seat aircraft: the DG-1001eNEO which has been installed at the Salon de Provence where the domestic aircraft will be equipped. Glider Instruction Squadron (EIVV).
The DG-1001eNEO two-seat glider, which has a maximum glide ratio of just over 45, has a wingspan of 20 metres. It is equipped with a forward electric motor FES, i.e. a 23 kW electric motor that activates a small propeller located at the front end of the glider, powered by two 28 kg batteries placed in the fuselage. When the engine is not running, the two propeller blades are folded and pressed against the fuselage with the relative wind so as not to reduce quality.
The engine power is insufficient to allow the glider to take off independently, but the use of this electric motor should be able to significantly reduce the launch altitude and thus save fuel for the towing aircraft. In flight, the device, which has an autonomy of about an hour, will allow the crew to easily reach an area suitable for updrafts and possibly avoid going “to the cows” by giving them the possibility of diversion. Thus the device will be flexible and safe to use.
FGS should soon deliver two more DG-1001 FES aircraft to the EIVVs at Romorantin and Saintes, in April and May 2024 respectively.
The Air Force is supposed to have 21 two-seaters and 21 singles at various glider centers, all of which are now available for charter.
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