ISTAR 10

 

Memorandum from the Society of British Aerospace Companies

 

 

1. SBAC is the UK's national trade association representing companies supplying civil air transport, aerospace defence, homeland security and space markets. Together with its regional partners, SBAC represents over 2,600 companies across the UK supply chain, assisting them in developing new business globally, facilitating innovation and competitiveness and providing regulatory services in technical standards and accreditation. SBAC's Autonomous Systems Strategy Group comprises leading UK industrialists with an interest in autonomy and engages relevant government customers and regulators with the objective of advancing the adoption of autonomy in the UK. SBAC's Autonomous Systems Network draws together the wider industrial and academic community and is intended to help develop the market and explore technologies and opportunities for the use of autonomous systems. SBAC also supports ASTRAEA, a pioneering £32 million aerospace programme addressing key technological and regulatory issues in order to open up non-segregated airspace to unmanned autonomous aircraft.

 

2. Autonomy and autonomous systems have been identified as having the potential to be a disruptive yet potentially beneficial technology and are an area in which companies in the UK possess leading technologies. MoD's procurement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is currently, and is likely to continue to be a key driver of the development of autonomy technologies in the UK. Use of those capabilities by government customers other than MoD (and by implication in the domestic environment) will require that significant regulatory barriers are overcome.

 

3. MoD has acquired several UAV systems as Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) for current operations. These include Desert Hawk (a mini UAV), the Hermes 450 (a tactical UAV) and Reaper (a long-range, long endurance UAV). Also, under an initiative named Project Morrigan, the HERTI system (a long endurance UAV) is being used to help the UK armed forces make informed decisions about the integration of UAV systems into the battlespace.

 

4. The National Audit Office has judged the performance of MoD and industry, working together to deliver UORs, to be exemplary. UORs are, quite rightly, the immediate priority but it is the view of SBAC members that MoD must be careful to ensure that it does not divert attention or investment from the task of preparing the armed forces for the different types of military operation they might face in the future. Autonomous systems have the potential to make a significant contribution to future UK military capability (in the area of ISTAR and elsewhere) and on a broader basis to support the Government's National Security Strategy and in purely civil applications.

 

5. The Defence Industrial Strategy recognised that 'We [MoD] and industry share a close alignment of interest in UAV and UCAV technology'. In this context, looking beyond immediate operational requirements, the Watchkeeper system is expected to replace the recently retired Phoenix in 2010. The DIS also made clear that 'we [MoD] intend to move forward ... with a more substantial TDP (Technology Demonstrator Programmes) designed to give us and industry a better understanding of key technologies of relevance to UAVs and UCAVs more broadly.' The Taranis project has since been launched which is intended to build an unmanned fast jet demonstrator. MoD's continued commitment to development programmes such as these is essential if industry in the UK is to be best placed to provide the British armed forces with state of the art equipment in the years to come. These programmes could also have a wider relevance to security and resilience and other applications of autonomy in the UK, providing that necessary effort is devoted to resolving the airspace and other regulatory constraints on use of UAVs in the UK (e.g. availability of bandwidth for communications).

 

6. The future prospect of the opening of non-segregated airspace to unmanned autonomous aircraft is a critical factor in the development of autonomous capabilities. For UAVs to be routinely used in place of manned aircraft, particularly in the civil sector, the current regulatory framework (as defined by the Civil Aviation Authority) will need to be re-interpreted to enable UAVs to operate alongside manned aircraft. The ASTRAEA programme is intended to pave the way for the integration of UAVs into non-segregated airspace within the next decade and is currently approaching the end of its first phase. A follow-up to ASTRAEA will be necessary to ensure that this work continues; its successful conclusion is likely to have a direct impact the ability of industry in the UK to provide MoD with leading-edge autonomous technologies in the coming decades. It will also be critical if UAVs are to make a major contribution to supporting national security in the UK.

 

5 May 2008