JN
I'd say there's nothing wrong with the High Endurance Rapid Technology Insertion (HERTI) "demonstrator". But as a finished product, as most of the articles in the press seem to say, it needs to get a decent "sense and avoid" suite before it can flit about with "Kent & Sussex Police" on the side!
I can't imagine that Joe 'Chav'erage is going to oblige by stealing a car and sticking to the boundaries of the segregated airspace it will need to operate in.
In my opinion, all the bluster about flying UAVs in UK airspace, such as has been said about HERTI, is "pie in the sky". We need to either install a cooperative collision avoidance system or a non-cooperative one for all users. The ASTREA program has been working this for 3-4 years at a cost of about £30M between the partner companies. In hindsight they could have paid for every baloon, glider, microlight and light aircraft to have a lightweight Mode S transponder and still had change (there's roughly 17,000 on the UK register). Then they could have developed automated cooperative aurborne collision system with the next £30M for UAVs such as HERTI. But hey, who am I to judge the overinflated opinion of manufacturers thinking they will fly in un-segregated airspace anytime soon?
Finally, if HERTI was designed for the UK military, then why would they want it over Hermes450/Watchkeeper? Don't forget that the latter is a THALES (UK) project - it might be running a little late but it's nowhere near as late as other UK aircraft programs!
All, IMHO, of course...