MoD was keen to acquire two air vehicles as part of future ISTAR requirements
The UK Ministry of Defence tried to acquire two General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator B unmanned air vehicles and associated ground control equipment last year, but was forced to abandon the proposal on cost grounds, says a senior ministry official.
Early last year, the UK tested a Predator B equipped with a Goodrich DB-110 reconnaissance pod as part of its Joint UAV Experimentation Programme and was keen to acquire the vehicle to deliver part of its future Project Dabinett persistent surveillance requirement.
Later this month, the UK will release to industry the results of a three-month strategy review into its future intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) requirements.
This will outline its planning assumptions until around 2030, says Air Cdre Stuart Butler, the MoD’s director equipment capability, ISTAR.
A range of UAVs using common command-and-control systems will play a key role in the UK’s future ISTAR mix, says Butler, in addition to the potential use of low-cost space-based assets.
However, Butler told the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Aerospace 2006 conference in London last week that the UK’s ISTAR aspirations “are undoubtedly constrained by resources”. A key objective of the new strategy will be to increase the ability of the UK armed forces to use and store collected intelligence data from a current total of about 25%, Butler says.
CRAIG HOYLE / LONDON
Source: Flight International
