More than 300 people from eight countries attended the opening of a new UK centre of excellence for unmanned air vehicle technologies at Aberporth on the west Wales coast last week.
Under construction as a result of a £21.5 million ($40 million) investment by Wales, the European Union and private funds, the new ParcAberporth centre is envisaged as a UK focus for developments in the fields of material, sensor and software design for both military and civilian UAVs.
Along with a QinetiQ-run test range at nearby Llanbedr, it is also viewed as a location for future flight testing activities to support the UK's steps toward conducting the routine operation of unmanned systems in its airspace.
The official first flight of an unmanned system in controlled UK airspace took place at the Aberporth site on 12 July, one day before its official opening by Welsh Assembly economic development minister Andrew Davies.
Some 230 jobs will be created within the next three years under Phase I development, which covers the development of an initial 20 acres (8Ha) by September 2005. A future project phase could expand this employment level up to 1,000 and see the site expand across 50 acres.
ParcAberporth is co-located with the current West Wales airport, which could also experience further development including a runway extension under the second phase of the Welsh Development Agency-led plan. This could see it increase business aviation activities alongside any UAV flight operations, Davies told Flight Daily News.
Customer
While its infrastructure is still under construction, ParcAberporth has already secured its first customer - the European UAV Systems Centre last week signed a memorandum of understanding to take floor space at the site.
Both bidders in the UK Ministry of Defence's Watchkeeper intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance UAV project are also believed to have made initial pledges to use the site if they are selected for the £800 million requirement, a decision on which could be announced this week.
High winds prevented an unmanned airship from taking to the air during the opening ceremony, leaving EADS's Scorpio light vertical take-off and landing UAV as the only system to fly on 13 July.
The modest scale of the opening air display underlined the challenges faced by UAV developers and users as they strive to see their systems integrated within commercial airspace, but the development of ParcAberporth is a positive move which will undoubtedly aid this process.
CRAIG HOYLE
Source: Flight Daily News