British defense leaders to craft guardrails for buying drones

LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defence will intensify efforts to equip the armed forces with unmanned capabilities, a top procurement official said at the 2023 edition of the DSEI show here.

Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge told hundreds of military and industry officials attending a speech opening the event that the Government intends to produce a strategy document covering the drone sector.

In part, the move was aimed at accelerating the introduction of the weapon class into the military, he said.

“We will be bringing forward an uncrewed systems strategy in the coming months. It’s hugely important. It will help accelerate UK armed forces’ access to uncrewed systems and rapidly equipping them with innovative technology across air, sea and land,” Cartlidge said.

MoD officials said the strategy will likely be published around the end of the year.

It’s the latest in a rash of strategy documents recently produced by the MoD across land, air and sea domains.

Analysts believe the newest document will likely consider industrial and military aspects related drones, including the question of when the government should develop them or buy them off-the-shelf.

British Army Chief Gen. Patrick Sanders shed a little more light on the growing influence of the systems on MoD strategy in a speech later in the day.

“By the end of this year, we will form a new UAS group within a reorientated Joint Aviation Command,” he said. “This expanded JAC remit will bring deep expertise and the coherence that the new defense uncrewed strategy requires, and it’ll provide a focal point for industry around which we intend to develop the next generation of UAS platforms in even closer partnership.”

By coincidence , or maybe not, leading British defense companies BAE Systems and Qinetiq used the first day of the DSEI show to announce they had signed a framework agreement to look at collaborating in the drone and associated mission management systems sector.

Qinetiq also announced it was developing a low-cost, disposable, jet-powered drone called Jackdaw which could be available by around the middle of the decade.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防部一位高级采购官员在2023年DSEI防务展上表示，英国国防部将加大力度为武装部队配备无人作战能力。

国防采购部长詹姆斯·卡特里奇在活动开幕致辞中告诉数百名出席的军方和行业官员，政府打算制定一份涵盖无人机领域的战略文件。

他表示，此举部分目的是为了加快该类武器在军队中的应用。

卡特里奇表示：“我们将在未来几个月内推出无人系统战略。这至关重要。它将有助于加快英国武装部队获取无人系统的速度，并迅速为他们在空中、海上和陆地上配备创新技术。”

英国国防部官员表示，该战略很可能在年底前后公布。

这是英国国防部近期在陆地、空中和海洋领域发布的一系列战略文件中的最新一份。

分析人士认为，最新文件可能会考虑与无人机相关的工业和军事方面的问题，包括政府应该何时自行研发无人机还是直接购买现成的无人机。

英国陆军总司令帕特里克·桑德斯将军在当天晚些时候的演讲中，进一步阐述了这些系统对国防部战略日益增长的影响。

“到今年年底，我们将在重组后的联合航空司令部内组建一个新的无人机系统（UAS）小组，”他说道。“此次扩大后的联合航空司令部职权范围将带来新的国防无人战略所需的深厚专业知识和协调性，并将为业界提供一个中心平台，我们计划围绕该平台，以更加紧密的合作关系，共同开发下一代无人机系统平台。”

或许并非巧合，英国领先的国防公司 BAE Systems 和 Qinetiq 在 DSEI 展会的第一天宣布，他们已签署一项框架协议，探讨在无人机及相关任务管理系统领域开展合作。

Qinetiq 还宣布，它正在开发一款名为 Jackdaw 的低成本、一次性喷气动力无人机，该无人机可能在本世纪中叶左右上市。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。