Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2014, Official Report, columns 322-3W, on unmanned air vehicles, whether the training of UK personnel in the six countries identified has involved unmanned aircraft actively engaged in operations.

Mr Mark Francois

Training of UK personnel in the six countries identified has not involved unmanned aircraft actively engaged in operations. Unmanned aircraft system (UAS) training has only ever occurred in non-operational environments, specifically the countries listed in my previous answer on 27 March 2014. Army UAS actively engaged in operations have always been, and continue to be, remotely piloted solely by fully trained personnel operating on the ground in the country in which the operation is active. This has only been in Iraq and Afghanistan.