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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans he has for separate programmes for the Royal Navy's UAV to support its new carrier battle groups and the RAF's UAV to supply ISTAR over extended ranges to the Future Offensive Air Capability; and if he will make a statement; [139724] (2) if he will make a statement on plans for the RAF's and RN's joint force UAV; what is the cost of the programme in relation to the overall cost of the single UAV capability, Watchkeeper, including BAE Systems' Phoenix UAV; and if he will make a statement. [139706] Dr. Moonie: The defence requirement is for a balanced, robust and layered Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability that meets the information needs of all operation commanders and supports their decisions on force protection and targeting of weapons systems. The requirement for a future ISTAR UAV system to support commanders in the land and littoral battlespace is known as Watchkeeper. We are considering arrangements for disseminating the information we would derive from Watchkeeper, some of which, for example on targeting, may be of value to maritime task forces operating at sea. At present, we do not plan to procure a maritime version of Watchkeeper although work is continuing to determine whether a maritime UAV would be a cost-effective solution to meeting part of the maritime ISTAR requirement. Also, we have no plans to procure a UAV to provide an independent ISTAR capability for the Future Offensive Air System (FOAS), although it is possible that an element of FOAS would be an unmanned combat air vehicle. The ISTAR requirements of maritime task forces and deep strike weapons systems will be met within the framework of our future overall ISTAR capability. Part of the current assessment phase for Watchkeeper includes studying whether the existing Phoenix UAV system should form part of the solution of the requirement.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

357 c639-40W;357 c638-9W; 139724;139706

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Air force Navy Military aircraft Surveillance Watchkeeper WK450

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk