Tag: France

NATO asks US for Drones “to find stuff to blow up” in Libya

Chris Cole

NATO commanders have asked the US to send more Predator drones to Libya to enable them to find more targets. After four months of airstrikes, NATO forces are having trouble locating new military targets. As one senior officer put it “It’s getting more difficult to find stuff to blow up…”  So far the Pentagon has not made a decision on whether to grant the request as it will mean moving the drones from Iraq, Afghanistan and, as Pentagon spokesperson put it tactfully “counter-terrorism operations elsewhere.”

Meanwhile the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have released new figures related to British drone strikes in Afghanistan in response to a question from Green MP Caroline Lucas this week. The figures, which Defence Minister Nick Harvey says are of ‘weapons released’ are for the first time broken down annually, so we are able to fill in more details about the rate of use (see table below). No doubt on some occasions more than one weapon is “released” during individual attacks.

Also this week two British citizens were arrested in Herat in Afghanistan .  Special forces raided the Hotel in which the couple, who are in their twenties and have dual nationality, were staying and they were flown to Kandahar airbase for interrogation. There will no doubt now be a legal battle of what happens to the pair. Clive Stafford Smith form the human rights organisation has offered to represent them. On at least two previous occasions British citizens in Afghanistan have been the subject of a drone strike. It is a step forward that this pair have been arrested rather than assassinated – particularly if as well may be the case, they were only visiting relatives.

We reported last month that France had announced that the UK and France were to delay a decision on the new joint drone by 12-18 months.  This was something of a surprise as a decision to go ahead to develop the proposed drone was expected in the summer. France has now announced that it is in talks with Dassault Aviation to procure a version of the Israeli Heron TP drone as a ‘stopgap’ measure.  This all smells very fishy and no doubt more will emerge over the coming weeks.

BAE salivating at prospect of £2bn drone contract as USAF recruits kids to the drone wars

Chris Cole

At a pre-Paris Air Show briefing this week, BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation could hardly contain their excitement at the prospect of being awarded a contract to develop a new armed drone.   The companies say they expect a government decision on the new joint UK/France drone programme in the very near future.  The MoD have estimated the new programme to total around £2 billion.

Development of a new armed drone is one of the ‘first fruits’ of a military co-operation treaty signed by France and the UK in November 2010.  BAE and Dassault signed an agreement to work together on the proposed programme in February, with BAE’s Mantis drone expected to be the basis of the new development.

Ian Fairclough, BAE’s Director of Strategic UAV’s stated: ‘We believe we are ready to begin the programme now. We have got some fairly mature plans in place for BAE Systems and Dassault to go ahead with this and we have also mobilised a joint team to work on this.’

Meanwhile, the USAF has just released a new video  game on its recruitment website aimed at teenagers  that enables young people to play at being a drone pilot and carry out drone strikes.   Many have already pointed out the similarity between video games and the operation of drones, and indeed how drones can blur the distinct between the reality of warfare and gaming.

Drone Strikes: Just Kids Play?

Although supporters of drones technology refute any such connections, their denials  are undermined by reports showing that gaming software and hardware are being used  to control UAVs.   Wired.com quotes Mark Bigham, business development director for Raytheon’s tactical intelligence systems as saying: “Gaming companies have spent millions to develop user-friendly graphic interfaces, so why not put them to work on UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]?”

What cannot be denied, is that the rapid increase in the use of drones has led to a shortage of drone pilots and hence the need to boost recruitment.

Enticing young people to join the military with video games – with the idea of then moving them on  from playing at drone wars to actually undertaking drone strikes  – is, disturbing to say the least.   When CIA Director Leon Panetta called drone strikes “the only game in town” little did he know how prescient his words would be.

BAE ties up with Dassault not EADS on joint drone

Chris Cole

BAE Systems have announced this morning that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with French aircraft manufacturer, Dassault, to work together on a new armed drone.   The new drone will be one of the first products of the new Anglo-French defence treaty signed last November,  and will be based on BAE’s Mantis drone.

There had been speculation that BAE would tie up with European arms conglomerate, EADS, and combine Mantis with EADS Talerion drone, but this is obviously not to be.  

More on this story soon.

UK and France Plan Joint Work on “essential” Drones

Chris Cole
David Cameron & Nicolas Sarkozy

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy jointly signed The Declaration on Defence and Security Co-operation yesterday at the 2010 UK-France Summit.  The treaty, dubbed by the tabloids as ‘the entente frugale’, contains two paragraphs on drones:

 Unmanned Air Systems have become essential to our armed forces. We have agreed to work together on the next generation of Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Air Surveillance Systems. Co-operation will enable the potential sharing of development, support and training costs, and ensure that our forces can work together. We will launch a jointly funded, competitive assessment phase in 2011, with a view to new equipment delivery between 2015and 2020.

In the longer term, we will jointly assess requirements and options for the next generation of Unmanned Combat Air Systems from 2030 onwards. Building on work already started under the direction of the UK-France High Level Working Group, we will develop over the next two years a joint technological and industrial roadmap. This could lead to a decision in 2012 to launch a joint Technology and Operational Demonstration programme from 2013 to 2018.

Within hours BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation had submitted a joint letter to the two leaders offering to work together to jointly develop drones.  As I have previously suggested, (‘SDSR, Drones and Autonomy) FlightGlobal is reporting that this will mean “building  on the lessons learned during Europe’s Dassault-led Neuron and BAE Systems’ Taranis technology demonstration programmes”.

BAE Systems told the Financial Times that they welcomed the proposal to develop a joint drone “Not only is this an important milestone in terms of the development of our unmanned aircraft capability, but it represents a significant investment in the future of our UK and French military aerospace capability.”

As I say far too often on this blog, meanwhile US drones strikes continue in North Waziristan with eleven people killed in three separate drones strikes today (3rd November)  and five killed in a drone strike on Monday (1st) according to the Press Association.

Addition:  BBC Report:  BAE Welcomes new alliance 

SDSR, Drones and Autonomy

Chris Cole

“There is extra money for unmanned aerial vehicles, and I think that anyone who has been to Afghanistan and seen the incredible work that is being done there knows that is a capability in which we should be investing” 

David Cameron’s statement on the Strategic Defence Review, 19th October 2010  (Hansard Column 817)

 

Prime Minister David Cameron’s vision of a “growing fleet” of drones, together with a commitment to extra money for drones in his statement on the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) this week will have delighted the drone industry.  While there is little detail at this stage, the financial commitment together with recent noises about greater cooperation on military projects with France will have boosted the idea of a new joint Anglo-French drone.  

As we reported in June, the MoD has confirmed that a study into the possibility of a joint French-Anglo drone was underway (MoD confirms joint UK/France study into future drone). This week French executives met with General Atomics after French Defence Minister Hervé Morin, told a government committee that his favoured way forward was to purchase Reaper drones in the short-term and to “build a European system” in the medium term.

A British-French military summit has been announced for November  and no doubt an announcement will be made then.

Meanwhile the push towards greater autonomy for drones continues.  At this week’s C4SIR conference in Washington, US Airforce Colonel JR Gear, the USAF Director of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Task Force urged us to embrace drone autonomy.  According to Henry Kenyon writing for Defense Systems, Gear said:  

Multi-aircraft control technology allows a pilot to manage several UAVs, while autonomous fight software can provide robot aircraft with the ability to carry out their missions with minimal supervision. The two capabilities could dramatically cut the number of personnel required to maintain an airborne presence in the region. Some 570 pilots are currently required to manage 50 UAV orbits. The new technology could cut this number to 150 pilots.

Kenyon’s excellent article goes on to look at the recent US military document, Technology Horizons, which examines key science and technology needs for the USAF over the next 20 years.  On the issue of drones  

 By 2030 technology will have reached the point that humans will be the weakest part of the system. Humans and machines will have to work more closely through new types of interfaces and by directly augmenting human performance. This could include drugs or implants to improve memory, alertness and cognition. The service is even considering the use of human brain waves or genetics to control and manage systems.

MoD confirms joint UK/France study into future drone

Chris Cole

An MoD spokeswomen has said that the UK and France are half-way through a joint three-month feasibility study into the possibility of jointly producing/purchasing a new drone.    The study came to light after the a senior Dassault executive called a press conference to argue against the possibility of a joint purchase of Reaper drones.   According to the report in Defence News potential candidate drones include developments of EADS Talarion, BAE Systems’ Mantis,  General Atomics Reaper and  Dassault /Thales Système de Drone MALE (SDM).