Drone vs drone: New UK remote control aircraft to tackle jihadis
Ministers ‘must tell public’ about drone strikes on IS Britons From Friday’s Mail
HELICOPTER drones which could shoot down Islamic State’s new remote- controlled weapons are under development, the Defence Secretary announced yesterday.
Sir Michael Fallon said the terror group’s latest drone tactics in Iraq – in which they drop grenades from the skies – had been a ‘wake-up call’ for Britain.
Unmanned craft would enable the UK to stay ahead of enemies as they would be faster, fly for longer, and spare pilots from any risk, he said.
In a speech at Oxford University to engineers and academics, he said drone wars were the future, adding: ‘Science fiction will soon be science fact. Unmanned warfare is coming absolutely.’
The Armed Forces are also looking at how to defend underwater, with research on silent drones based on whales under way.
Sir Michael said Britain ‘has to be ready’ to defend in space too – as he warned space was set to become another battlefield. The minister revealed the military has formed a Dragons Den- style panel to research and develop weapons to combat ‘brutal terrorism’. He said the Ministry of Defence ‘has to keep ahead’ by recruiting world experts, such as outgoing GCHQ boss Robert Hannigan.
Also on the panel is Major Tim Peake, Britain’s first official astronaut, and businessman Ron Dennis, former chairman of McLaren technology group. Sir Michael said: ‘Space, like cyber, is the next domain and our adversaries are already looking at how they can com- pete against us in space and we have to be ready for that. Other countries are investing very heavily in space and putting satellites up with military applications and we have to be sure that we can deal with that. Tim will be helping to advise us with that.’
Former F1 team boss Mr Dennis said it was in the panel’s DNA ‘to win’, adding they were all ‘fiercely patriotic’. IS militants have been using commercial drones to kill and maim civilians as local forces try to take back Mosul.
Local Peshmerga forces have been trying to shoot them down from the ground before they unleash the deadly grenades. Sir Michael said: ‘Daesh is developing drones, we have seen them defending Mosul with drone attacks.’
He said it was a ‘good example’ of what Britain’s enemies were up to, adding: ‘We simply have to keep ahead’. The Defence Secretary explained: ‘That is another wake-up call to get ahead of our adversaries in that kind of area and ensure we have the drones that can fly longer and faster and in all conditions in order to have an advantage over the drones that are being used against us.’
He said drone helicopters were currently under development as part of a two-year £8 million drone research project with Leonardo Helicopters.
Sir Michael stressed said the advantage was that they can fly for longer and in ‘high risk situations where you wouldn’t want to risk a pilot’. ‘ You wouldn’t need runways to land it on or take it off’, he said.
‘You can hover over particular areas in a way that the Reaper [drone] would only be able to circle. You can do what a helicopter can do that a plane can’t do. The payload is obviously an interesting one – will we be able to fly stuff in without a pilot?’