News. . . .
April 2nd, 2010
Town included in new military drone testing zone
The Civil Aviation Authority has included Newcastle Emlyn in a new testing zone for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or Drones) taking off and landing at West Wales Airport, Aberporth.
Beginning on March 29th 2010 and lasting 7 months, flying restrictions for unauthorized planes have been imposed on an area 6 nautical miles (6.9 miles) radius from West Wales Airport. An area of 150 sq miles.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is currently beginning trials at West Wales Airport of its “Watchkeeper” Drone, made by Israeli company Elbit Systems. The drone will be used by the MoD for “intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition”, but there are plans to arm the drones with rockets. Probably the Thales Air Systems’ lightweight multirole missile (LMM).
Later this year, in order to facilitate flights between West Wales Airport and the Sennybridge military area, a further restricted flying corridor will be created across southern Ceredigion and north Carmarthenshire.
During a consultation organised by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in summer 2009, UAV experts expressed serious concerns about the safety record of drones as they do not have the same air worthiness standards as piloted aircraft.
In 2009 2 drones owned by Italian arms company Selex Galileo crashed while taking off from West Wales Airport when the pilots on the ground lost control of them. It is though that Selex has now decided to pull out of Parc Aberporth.
The notice from the CAA can be downloaded as a PDF here
Click map for larger version
For more information about UAV testing in West Wales go to www.bepj.org.uk.