Strategic UAV Opportunities in Cambridgeshire

During my visit to the Farnborough Air Show last year I was struck by how quickly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) had developed and the large variety of roles to which they had been adapted. At the time of a large scale review of Defence expenditure in the UK there is a real opportunity for Greater Cambridgeshire in this new and vital aviation sector.
The attached video shows the new Boeing Phantom Eye UAV. It is a good example of a "High Altitude Long Endurance" (HALE) vehicle which can loiter over global trouble spots for up to 10 days at a time. This makes basing in East Anglia a real possibility for operations in Afghanistan. There are also equally interesting civilian application opportunities.
The vehicle is extremely environmentally friendly being propelled by 2 truck engines fuelled by liquid and gaseus Hydrogen and producing only Oxygen as a bi-product. The low weight composite construction materials and fabrication methods are a key ingredient.
As a payload it can carry a sophistcated array of sensors and communication equipment with the ability to take airborne intelligence and surveillance to new levels.
All the attributes and capabilities to produce and operate a vehicle like the Phantom Eye are already uniquely available within the "Greater" Cambridgeshire "high technology" cluster.
- Operating and intelligence interpretation at bases in East Anglia
- Aircraft manufacturing in Cambridge, Ramsay, Stevenage supported by expertise from the Institute for Manufacturing IfM at Cambridge University
- Leading Sensor, Communication and RFID expertise in Cambridge
- Composite materials expertise and capability in Huntingdon
- Environmental expertise and capability in Peterborough.
Plans for a new Local Economic Partnership for a "greater" Cambridgeshire could really take advantage of the opportunities of this new new "Aviation and Defence" sector.