Army drones grounded after crashes delay safety licence

THE Army’s troubled £1.1billion reconnaissance drone programme will be delayed further after it failed to gain a key air safety certificate following a series of crashes.

Army chiefs have been forced to postpone bringing the Watchkeeper aircraft into service until at least later this year, by which point the aircraft will be eight years late.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has written to MPS to explain that the programme failed to get certification in November 2017 to show it is safe and reliable enough to be used in routine training and operations, Jane’s defence journal reported.

The MOD last year admitted it had temporarily grounded the Watchkeeper fleet after two drones crashed, delaying attempts to bring the aircraft finally into service. The Watchkeeper remote-control aircraft were both lost in the Irish Sea after taking off from West Wales Airport at Aberporth.

A letter from Stephen Lovegrove, the Mod’s permanent secretary, to Meg Hillier MP, the chairman of the public accounts committee, said the aircraft could still be used in emergency circumstances without the clearance.

The MOD ordered 54 Watchkeepers in 2005 in an £847million deal to provide surveillance and reconnaissance for troops. The 35ft wingspan aircraft can fly 16,000ft above the battlefield.

A July 2017 report by the UK Infrastructure and Projects Authority reported that the project had cost £1.1billion up to then.