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Expodefensa 2025: Airbus Sirtap Drone Debuts As Long-Range ISR And Precision Support Asset.
Airbus Defence and Space highlighted its Sirtap tactical drone in Bogotá during Expodefensa 2025 as the program moves from development into a full test phase in Spain. The unveiling signals growing interest in long-endurance unmanned systems across Latin America and reflects Airbus's efforts to build a deeper industrial partnership with Colombia.
During Expodefensa 2025 in Bogotá, Airbus Defence and Space put the spotlight on Sirtap, its new high-capability tactical drone, presenting the system to Latin American decision-makers as it transitions from development to an intensive flight-test phase in Spain. In a context of rising demand for sovereign unmanned capabilities and long-endurance surveillance in both Europe and Latin America, Sirtap is positioned as a bridge between small tactical UAVs and larger MALE platforms, while anchoring a wider industrial partnership with Colombia. This latest public appearance of the programme comes just weeks after the rollout of the first prototype and ahead of its transfer to Spain’s CEUS test centre for a full flight campaign in 2026.
Sirtap is a medium altitude tactical drone designed for long endurance surveillance, carrying electro-optical and radar payloads on a compact twin boom airframe suited for border and maritime monitoring (Picture Source: Army Recognition)
Developed by Airbus Defence and Space as a “high-end tactical UAS”, Sirtap is designed for all-weather, long-endurance surveillance and strike support missions. The aircraft offers more than 20 hours of endurance and a service ceiling above 21,000 feet, operating between –40°C and +50°C thanks to dedicated ice protection and thermal management systems, which allows continuous operations over mountains, deserts or maritime environments. With a maximum take-off weight of around 750 kg and a payload capacity in excess of 150–180 kg, it can combine an electro-optical/infrared turret with multi-mission radars, maritime patrol sensors, AIS receivers and electronic intelligence payloads on four underwing hardpoints, enabling configurations ranging from pure ISR to armed escort or electronic warfare. The drone can use 800-metre semi-prepared runways, including unpaved strips, and its modular structure allows rapid disassembly, such as removing the “dry” wings, for transport inside aircraft like the C295, which is a key factor for expeditionary deployment. Communications are designed from the outset for line-of-sight control and beyond-line-of-sight operation via SATCOM, with full interoperability with customer C4I systems and certification by Spanish military airworthiness authorities for flight in segregated airspace.
Behind the static model shown at Expodefensa 2025 lies a programme entering a decisive phase. Airbus completed assembly of the first prototype in Getafe in mid-2025 and has since run a demanding ground-test campaign covering structural checks, systems integration and software validation. The aircraft and its ground control station are now being prepared for shipment to the INTA Unmanned Systems Test Centre (CEUS) in Huelva, where a year-long flight-test campaign will run throughout 2026 to secure type certification. Spain has already contracted nine Sirtap systems, each composed of three air vehicles and one ground control station, for a total of 27 drones and nine stations, complemented by two dedicated simulators for operator training. The platform is also being progressively integrated into a broader national ecosystem: Airbus and Navantia have launched a project to assess Sirtap operations from the Spanish Navy’s LHD Juan Carlos I, while Spanish firms Aertec and Instalaza have developed the BAT precision gliding bomb to be carried under Sirtap’s wings, providing a fully national armed configuration for tactical strike missions. In parallel, Exail’s UMiX-40 inertial unit, combining fibre-optic gyros and vibrating-beam accelerometers, is being integrated into Sirtap’s navigation suite to ensure accurate guidance and stabilisation even in GNSS-denied environments, reinforcing its survivability in contested electromagnetic conditions.
Sirtap’s unveiling in Bogotá also highlights the depth of the Spanish–Colombian partnership underpinning the programme. Airbus has long presented the system as a joint Spanish–Colombian UAV, with the Colombian state aerospace company CIAC already manufacturing key components such as the landing gear, delivered in early 2025 for use on the first ground and flight tests. This industrial cooperation stems from a memorandum of understanding signed between Spain and Colombia, which envisages work packages for remotely piloted systems in Colombia and explicitly cites Sirtap as a reference programme, with the goal of making Colombia not only an operator but also a co-producer of the system. The Colombian Aerospace Force has publicly signalled its interest in acquiring up to 18 airframes for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, a number that would represent a qualitative step in Bogotá’s ability to monitor borders, maritime approaches and remote regions affected by illegal mining, narcotrafficking and armed groups. Within this framework, Expodefensa, organised under the auspices of the Colombian Ministry of Defence and positioned as the key defence and security fair for Latin America, provides a natural stage for Airbus to demonstrate Sirtap as a tool for regional strategic autonomy and to consolidate its industrial ties with the local ecosystem.
Sirtap carries strategic implications that extend well beyond its industrial and operational profile, shaping how Europe and key partners approach unmanned capabilities. For Spain, the program marks a deliberate shift from reliance on foreign tactical UAVs toward a domestically developed system that Airbus identifies as a contribution to national sovereignty and to the maturation of a European defense aerospace ecosystem with greater autonomy in critical technologies.
Within the broader European market, Sirtap is positioned as an ITAR free alternative to established platforms such as the Bayraktar TB2 and the Hermes 450, with particular emphasis on NATO compliant connectivity, electronic warfare resilience, and interoperability with future manned and unmanned teaming concepts under the FCAS framework. Its integration with the armed BAT system, designed and produced in Spain, provides a national precision strike option at a time when European forces are prioritizing distributed, survivable, and politically unconstrained effects. For Latin American partners like Colombia, the same architecture delivers persistent ISR, maritime domain awareness, and precision engagement capabilities while anchoring local industry participation, an increasingly attractive model in a region facing constrained budgets and growing security demands.
By bringing Sirtap to the forefront at Expodefensa 2025, Airbus is turning a maturing European tactical UAV into a tangible proposal for Latin American forces at the very moment when its first prototype is about to enter flight testing and the initial Spanish systems are scheduled for delivery in 2027. The programme crystallises several converging trends: Europe’s determination to field indigenous drones that can operate and fight in contested environments; Spain’s ambition to anchor its defence industry in higher added-value segments; and Colombia’s strategy to couple operational modernisation with genuine aerospace industrialisation. If the forthcoming test campaign confirms the performance promised on paper, Sirtap is likely to become one of the reference tactical UAVs for medium powers seeking long-endurance ISR and selective strike capabilities without renouncing industrial participation, making its presentation in Bogotá a signal event for both European and Latin American defence landscapes.