Thales conducts flight trials on Watchkeeper
Thales has successfully flown the Watchkeeper UAS, along with manned aircraft in controlled civil airspace, the company announced on 15 October.
Watchkeeper flew from West Wales Airport into civil controlled airspace for an hour. The flight was a part of project Claire. The project is a collaboration between Thales, the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory, the UK's National Air Traffic Service (NATS), the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and was joint funded by the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
Air Cdre Pete Grinsted, head of unmanned air systems, UK MoD Defence, Equipment and Support, said: ‘This is a landmark achievement for UK aviation history and the Watchkeeper programme, and was only possible thanks to a collaborative approach involving Thales, CAA, NATS and the MoD.
‘The successful flight is the result of months of systematic planning to ensure Watchkeeper was safely controlled by UK Air Traffic Control agencies at all times. This is also an exciting step on the path to safely integrating military and civilian unmanned air systems into civilian airspace over the coming years.’
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