Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Thales
- Origin / production countries
- Spain
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Fulmar X; original Fulmar requires its own baseline
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Dated manufacturer launch evidence; current production and customer acceptance remain unverified.
Fulmar X is the enhanced Fulmar surveillance aircraft presented by Thales in 2016. The launch description identifies a carbon-fibre fixed-wing platform intended for both land and maritime operation, with catapult launch and net recovery. A shipborne operating concept does not change its classification: the vehicle operates in the air.
The manufacturer announcement provides an eight-hour-plus endurance and an operating reach above eighty kilometres. These are dated supplier claims, not evidence of a newly qualified configuration. The profile does not substitute specifications from the original Fulmar or infer that all systems called Fulmar share the same aircraft.
The reviewed material establishes the named offering and its architecture. It does not establish the current production line, an exhaustive customer list or the number of aircraft still operating. Those questions remain in the coverage register. Retaining this distinction makes the record useful for historical research without presenting an old launch announcement as current fleet intelligence.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Carbon-fibre fixed wing | 2016 Fulmar X baseline. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Catapult / net | Land and ship operating concept. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | 3 m wingspan | Thales launch description. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | More than 8 hours | 2016 supplier claim. Source ↗ |
| Range | More than 80 km operating reach | 2016 supplier claim; not established as ferry range. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
Suggest a correction to this entry →
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.