UK to spend £640m on drones. Will NPAS be given access?

[Harry O]

UK MOD are going to spend £640m on eight £80m Triton Global Hawk drones to monitor the UK.

Will NPAS be given access to their pictures or tasking? Will this mean NPAS be running another course for the TFO's to fly them? ;)
UK 'to Spend £600m on Spy Drones To Protect Britain From Russian Incursion' (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uk-spend-600m-spy-drones-protect-britain-russian-incursion-1457448)

[Evalu8ter]

Would like to see their CAP 722 compliance measures.....

No cleared Detect to Avoid system, no Ops outside desegregated airspace. RPAS/UAVs have enormous potential, but there are societal and technological barriers to their employment.

[TCAS FAN]

Evalu8ter

I share your sentiment, if they are not equipped with an approved sense and avoid system are they only going to operate for 90 days in a Temporary Danger Area, or are we to expect that we will see an ACP covering all UK off shore areas?

[Fortyodd2]

At 10 miles up, who else is there to avoid??
Their biggest problem will be seeing through typical UK weather.

[SilsoeSid]

NPAS and drones ..... Octocopters are just the job for footsie matches and marches, yet as they say in the onion trade, that's shallot.

Besides, don't these big boy drones deal with Lat Long coordinates? I've not yet seen an online latlong postcode converter :ooh:

The drones carry surveillance equipment that can detect hostile aircraft from 2,000 miles away and are fitted with powerful cameras that can zoom in on pilot's faces.
It's been a while since my last recognition lesson, but have they now moved in to pilot recognition? Must be chuffin' difficult with a helmet, mask and dark visor. So the simple countermeasure for this super camera system would be to simply blank out the helmet names :rolleyes:

http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/images/helmets/hgu33istructor.jpg

[Evalu8ter]

Forty odd,
Not an issue when on station at altitude; you could even try to sterilise the airspace for a spiral climb up and down. The issue is the 'lost link logic' and where/how the platform gets back down, autonomously, without endangering other airspace users. It's not CAT aircraft that's the issue (TCAS will help) but those non-Xpdr equipped Users that will pose a collision risk.

[212man]

I've not yet seen an online latlong postcode converter

Here you go....:ok:

Coordinate Converter Conversions - Grid Reference - Lat/Long (http://www.nearby.org.uk/conversions.cgi)

[SilsoeSid]

Blimey, that took longer than expected.
Well done 212, although I've found #2 on the google search list easier to use :ok:
UK Street Map Coordinate Converter (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/gridconvert.html)