UK government to invest £16 million in new technologies for unmanned flights

The investment, through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Technology Programme, forms part of the ASTRAEA, (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment) research into unmanned vehicles technology.

The aim is to develop unmanned vehicles that could be used for police, fire service and coastguard surveillance, power and pipeline inspections and mobile phone and broadband services.

“ASTRAEA is a significant programme for the UK in establishing our credentials in the rapidly growing field of UAV development”, said Alistair Darling, secretary of state for trade and industry. “It will strengthen collaboration across industry, universities, and regulatory authorities.”

Darling added that the programme is an example of how the private sector and universities can work with government. “ASTRAEA also represents a good example of collaboration between the DTI and the regional bodies supporting technology programmes which will provide knowledge transfer and employment opportunities.”

The consortium is made up of Agent Oriented Software, BAE Systems, EADS UK, Flight Refuelling, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Thales UK, with the universities of Bath, Cranfield, Lancaster, Leicester, Loughborough, Aberystwyth, West of England and Sheffield, plus a number of specialist small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Of the £16 million of public money, £5 million is coming from DTI and the rest from the budgets of the regional development agencies in the South West, South East and North West England and Scotland and Wales.

ASTRAEA is programme within the National Aerospace Technology Strategy, which was developed by the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team to focus research and development where the UK aerospace industry could compete globally over the next 20 years.