§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what requirement has been established for unmanned aerial vehicles; and what timetable has been set for the requirement; [158512]
204W(2) what plans there are for unmanned aerial vehicles to operate from aircraft carriers.[158513]
§ Mr. IngramWe currently have a requirement to provide for the land environment accurate, timely and high quality imagery to UK commanders. To meet this requirement the Watchkeeper programme is on track to deliver from 2006 an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (IS TAR) system using tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Watchkeeper will subsume the in-service Phoenix UAV capability. In response to an urgent operational requirement arising in Iraq, we have acquired Desert Hawk mini-UAVs from the United States. I am withholding details about their use in accordance with Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information for reasons of operational security.
There are currently no plans to procure other operational UAVs. We have established the Joint UAV Experimentation Programme (JUEP) to explore the wider operational utility of UAV systems in the joint battlespace, including an investigation into the utility of UAVs for maritime operations. Under the Future Offensive Air System programme we expect to look at a potential mix of platforms, including Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), to meet our future strike capability from around the end of the next decade.