Fallon unveils £8m for helicopter combat drones

FUTURE conflicts will involve droneto-drone warfare and Britain must do more to keep ahead of new unmanned battlefield threats, the Defence Secretary has warned.

The use of drones by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) to drop explosives during the battle for Mosul has been a “wake-up call” about how Britain’s adversaries are using new technology.

Sir Michael Fallon announced that the MoD was beginning an £8 million, two-year project to begin researching the use of drone helicopters which could potentially go into combat against other drones such as those used by Isil, he said.

The militants have used easily available commercial drones to spy on Iraqi forces and drop small bombs or grenades as Baghdad’s forces have fought street to street to clear the city. As he announced an advisory panel designed to help the MoD make better and quicker use of new developments in technology, Sir Michael said the use of drones in Mosul was a “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”.

Tim Peake, the astronaut, Robert Hannigan, the retiring head of GCHQ and Ron Dennis, founder of McLaren Technology Group, were all named as members of the MoD’s advisory panel.

Sir Michael said space was another area where Britain needed to do more.

He said: “Our adversaries are already looking at how they can compete against us in space and we have to be ready for that as well. 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.”