This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2011) |
ParcAberporth is a technology park created on what was Royal Air Force (RAF) station Aberporth, near the village of that name in the county of Ceredigion, Wales, [1] which is now Aberporth Airport. The station was one of two local sites that had been used as a site for a missile range that stretched out for some miles into the nearby Cardigan Bay. [1] This Danger Area still exists and is known as Danger Area D201. [1] [2] Parc Aberporth is the UK's purpose-built testing site for unmanned aircraft. The Parc Aberporth centre was specially developed to test and trial unmanned aircraft, for both military and civilian use.
In 1940, Ministry of Supply's Projectile Development Establishment at Fort Halstead became vulnerable to enemy action and Germans knew about the rocket development there, so the organization was evacuated to RAE Aberporth. [3]
Aberporth Rocket Projectile Establishment began operation on the site in 1941 during the Second World War. [4] It remained the principal UK live firing testing site for surface-to-air missile development for all branches of the UK military, in addition to the use of other rocket test sites such as Woomera in Australia, and High Down, Isle of Wight and at Spadeadam in Cumbria - the largest RAF base in the UK. [5] [6] It is currently the only site in the UK licensed to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in the UK. Since the RAF left, the testing facilities at nearby Parcllyn, are operated by QinetiQ, and the old RAF camp at Blaenannerch (now recreated as ParcAberporth) is owned by the Welsh Assembly Government. Next to ParcAberporth is West Wales Airport and is owned by businessman Ray Mann, who operates West Wales Airport.
ParcAberporth was created by the Welsh Development Agency, (which in 2006, merged in to the Welsh Government) to utilise the facilities and skills in the area. It has been focused as an operational test and evaluation centre for Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). One of the main difficulties in getting a wider acceptance of UAVs in civilian and commercial use has been integrating unmanned flights with existing aviation. Work at ParcAberporth and West Wales Airport has been possible as a 6-nautical-mile (11 km) radius around the airfield has been designated Restricted airspace - Temporary (RA(T)) up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) allowing UAVs to operate without special dispensation.
Since 2004, ParcAberporth is the site for an annual event of exhibition and conference devoted to the UAV industry.
In October 2005, ParcAberporth was inaugurated as a flight testing facility for unmanned aircraft, with a test flight of an Elbit Hermes 450, as part of the British Army Thales Watchkeeper WK450 program. [7] On Wednesday 14 April 2010, Watchkeeper's first UK flight took place from ParcAberporth. [8]
In 2009 a Selex Falco UAV crashed on the site. [1] It was under control of a pilot at the site and landed within the perimeter. [1]
During the development of the Watchkeeper program, 5 units crashed and inquiries were held. Two Watchkeepers crashed on flight trials over Cardigan Bay in February and March 2017, resulting in the grounding of all Watchkeepers for four months. [9] [10] In June 2018 a Watchkeeper crashed on land near the trials base at ParcAberporth, increasing the number of Watchkeepers lost in crashes to five. [11] [12]
Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international military technology company and defense contractor. Founded in 1966 by Elron, Elbit Systems is the primary provider of the Israeli military's land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Aberporth is a seaside village, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The population at the 2001 Census, was 2,485, of whom 49 per cent could speak the Welsh language. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community was 2,374 and of the village 1241. Aberporth's beaches have earned Blue Flag status.
The Thales Watchkeeper WK450 is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for all weather, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) used by the British Army. It is provided under an £800 million contract with UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS), a joint venture of Elbit and Thales UK, and is based on Elbit's Hermes 450.
Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, England, located at Mawgan in Pydar, 4 NM northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now owned by Cornwall Council and operated by Cornwall Airport Ltd.
The Boeing A160 Hummingbird is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter. Its design incorporates many new technologies never before used in helicopters, allowing for greater endurance and altitude than any helicopter currently in operation.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate ground control by humans.
Aberporth Airport is situated southwest of Aberporth, Ceredigion, Wales. The airport is being developed as West Wales Airport for domestic flights. It is also developing as a centre for the deployment of civil and military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), known as 'drones'. The airport underwent major improvements in 2008 which extended the length of the runway from 945 to 1,257 m.
Llanbedr Airport, formerly RAE Llanbedr, is an operational general aviation airport located in the Snowdonia National Park near the village of Llanbedr, Gwynedd, northwest Wales.
The Elbit Hermes 450 is an Israeli medium-sized multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical long endurance missions. It has an endurance of over 20 hours, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay. Payload options include electro-optical/infrared sensors, communications and electronic intelligence, synthetic-aperture radar/ground-moving target indication, electronic warfare, and hyperspectral sensors.
The BAE Systems Phoenix was an all-weather, day or night, real-time surveillance Unmanned Air Vehicle. It had a twin-boom UAV with a surveillance pod, from which the imagery was data linked to a ground control station (GCS) that also controlled the aircraft in flight. It was the third generation of UAV in British Army service with the Royal Artillery after SD/1 and Canadair Midge.
The GAF Jindivik is a radio-controlled target drone produced by the Australian Government Aircraft Factories (GAF). The name is from an Aboriginal Australian word meaning "the hunted one". Two manually-controlled prototypes, were built as the GAF Pika as a proof of concept to test the aerodynamics, engine and radio control systems, serialled A92-1/2, 'B-1/2'. The radio-controlled Jindivik was initially designated the Project B and received serials in the A93 series. Pika is an Aboriginal Australian word meaning flier.
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed 116,000 people.
The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 Kochav ("Star") is an Israeli medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions. It is a successor to the Hermes 450 series of drones, one of the most widely used military drones in the world.
The Patroller is a French medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle developed and manufactured by Safran Electronics & Defense. The airframe is based on the Stemme ASP S15 motor glider.
Martlet or the Lightweight Multirole Missile(LMM) is a lightweight air-to-surface, air-to-air, surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface missile developed by Thales Air Defence for the United Kingdom. It is named after a mythical bird from English heraldry that never roosts, the Martlet.
Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment (ASTRAEA) is a project to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to fly in civil airspace. Both UK government agencies and companies such as AOS Group, BAE Systems, Qinetiq, Rolls-Royce plc, Cassidian, Cobham plc, EADS and Thales UK are involved. The project began in 2006.
The Shahed 129 is an Iranian single-engine medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed by Shahed Aviation Industries for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Shahed 129 is capable of combat and reconnaissance missions and has an endurance of 24 hours; it is similar in size, shape and role to the American MQ-1 Predator and is widely considered as one of the most capable drones in Iranian service.
Unmanned systems of the British Army is a list of all modern and in service remote and unmanned surveillance, reconnaissance, bomb disposal and combat systems of the British Army, as of May 2023.
The Watchkeeper X is a high-performance, tactical, unmanned aircraft system developed by Thales and Elbit. It is the export variant of the Thales Watchkeeper WK450, derived from the Hermes 450. The drone was first unveiled in 2015 at the DSEI 2015 exhibition in London. Initially, the drone was offered to Poland.