Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to integrate the use in military operations of unmanned vehicles in the air, at sea, and on land.

Earl Howe

Unmanned vehicles already play an important role in UK Armed Forces’ operations across all environments. On the basis of the Government’s National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review of November 2015, the Department is continuing to examine where unmanned systems may offer advantages over manned alternatives and to invest in new unmanned capabilities. For example, the Department is more than doubling the number of armed remotely piloted aircraft available to the UK Armed Forces under the Protector programme to replace the existing Reaper aircraft, and is also developing high-end technologies – including in collaboration with France and the US – under a future Unmanned Combat Air System programme.

Throughout the Department’s development and integration of unmanned systems, the policy is that a human must always be responsible for any decisions on targeting.