Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Britain to Procure Near Space UAV, Likely AirBus Zephyr

The UK looks set to operationally field the Airbus Defence and Space (DS) Zephyr high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to comments made by the prime minister on 23 November.

Announcing a series of enhancements to the UK's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities during the reading of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in the House of Commons, David Cameron said that the country is to field a "British-designed unmanned aircraft [that] will fly at the very edge of the earth's atmosphere and allow us to observe our adversaries for weeks on end, providing critical intelligence for our forces."

While he gave no further details, the solar-powered Zephyr UAV that Airbus DS is developing with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) under the High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) project is the only platform that fits the bill. Even so, the MoD declined to confirm this to IHS Jane's , and Airbus DS had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

No comments: