'World Center Of Excellence' Makes Its Debut
Wednesday's official opening of a world center of excellence for
the development and testing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) by
First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan marks a milestone in
aviation history.
Morgan will officially open ParcAberporth Unmanned Systems
Wednesday in Aberporth, West Wales and the event will be marked by
the largest flying demonstration of UAVs ever to be held in
civilian airspace in the UK.
ParcAberporth is a key part of the Welsh Assembly
Government’s plans for the regeneration of Cardigan and West
Wales. The Park will include a business and incubation center with
research and development facilities for a UK-based UAV center of
Excellence providing a focal point for a growing cluster of UAV
Systems and related businesses.
Construction work on the first phase of ParcAberporth was
completed in August 2005 and is funded through the Welsh Assembly
Government and through European Structural Funds. Funding totalling
£8.6 million has already attracted a further commitment of
£7.5 million from the public and private sector. The project
aims to create 230 jobs in the first three years, with the capacity
for up to 1000 jobs in total.
The UAV sector is worth around £1 billion a year worldwide
but this is expected to increase significantly with the predicted
growth of civil applications. On the eve of the official opening of
ParcAberporth, Morgan announced a major collaborative cross-sector
development between the Welsh Assembly Government, the
world-renowned Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research
(IGER), QinetiQ and the Boeing Company to develop civil
applications for UAVs. Civil applications could include
environmental and meteorological sensing, disaster/emergency
monitoring, maritime and coastal surveillance, geological survey,
mineral exploration and crop monitoring. UAV systems and civil
applications of this nature have a substantial economic potential
UK-wide.
Since the launch of ParcAberporth UAV center of Excellence last
year there have been a number of significant developments in the
UAV sector. Over the past year, the UK’s Autonomous Systems
Technology Validation Program ASTRAEA has been developed by a UK
industry collaboration. Wales' role in ASTRAEA will combine
demonstration activity at ParcAberporth, work on safety and
diagnostics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and secure
communications technology at EADS Newport. The ASTRAEA program is
worth £10 million for Wales and has also been launched today
at ParcAberporth.
In addition, the Ministry of Defence and Thales UK have signed
the £700 million Watchkeeper contract and today's flying
demonstration will feature the maiden flight of the Hermes 450 in
UK - one of two UAVs to be used as part Watchkeeper contract.
This will be the first time a UAV above 150kg has ever taken off,
flown and landed from a civilian runway and flown between civil and
military airspace.
"Wales has celebrated some major developments in the aerospace
industry within the past year including the maiden flight of the
Airbus A380 superjumbo, while GE Wales has been named as the first
link in a worldwide network of service centers for the Engine
Alliance's GP7200," Morgan said. "The official opening of
ParcAberporth places Wales at the heart of the growing UAV sector
while the collaboration between the Welsh Assembly Government,
IGER, QinetiQ and Boeing opens up a whole new world market for the
civil application of UAV technology.
Wales' aerospace sector already employs 20,000 people and
continues to grow and it is clear that aerospace and its related
industries have a very strong future here."