Day: 6 May 2013

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Welsh airfield at the centre of Britain’s drone revolution

By Sharon Black

Owner of Aberporth base, where unmanned aerial vehicles take off for tests over land and sea, says public fears are illogical It is an odd little airfield, not far from Aberporth in west Wales, a former fishing village that now survives thanks to tourists with a taste for hill walking, windswept beaches and bracing swims in Cardigan Bay. Few of the visitors venture to the former RAF base close by, and those that do are unlikely to know this small site, which was first established in the early years of the second world war, is pioneering some of the most controversial technologies in modern conflict. The Ministry of Defence uses this privately owned airfield to test its “drones” – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

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British military has 500 drones

By Sharon Black

Ministry of Defence in talks to increase the amount of UK airspace to fly remotely piloted weapons The British military now has 500 drones and has been looking for ways to increase the amount of UK airspace in which to fly some of them, the Guardian can reveal. The expansion of the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is in line with the Ministry of Defence’s ambition for a third of the Royal Air Force to consist of remotely piloted aircraft by 2030. But the disclosure will dismay campaigners who have raised ethical and legal concerns over UAVs, which have been used extensively in Afghanistan, and by the CIA to target Taliban and al-Qaida leaders across the border in Pakistan