Qinetiq believes significant long-term opportunities exist to provide a range of managed services to customers using unmanned air systems, as the company seeks to build on its past experience with supporting the Dutch and Polish armed forces in Afghanistan.
Budgetary pressures and a desire to avoid acquiring specialist equipment that will be required for only a limited period were among the factors that led The Hague and Warsaw to contract services in Afghanistan using Qinetiq-operated Aeronautics Aerostar unmanned air vehicles, says Shai Shammai, head of business development for the UK company's unmanned services unit.
While a respective end to national involvement in Afghanistan and the purchase of owned equipment saw the company's provision of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services end with both operators by 2010, Shammai says Qinetiq is confident that continued demand will come its way over the coming years.
"Some requirements will continue, and we know they will not need the service long-term. We can mitigate local risk and make it cost-effective for such customers: it's cheaper to operate a managed service," he claims.
"Our prime clients will not necessarily be military - they could be from a sector like oil and gas," Shammai says. Speaking at the DSEi show in London on 10 September, he identified a likely main focus area for such requirements as coming from the Middle East.
Source: Flight International
