House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Q
Asked by Baroness Stern
Asked on: 22 July 2020
Ministry of Defence
Unmanned Air Vehicles
HL7183
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent progress they have made on the Zephyr High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite programme, following the reported mishaps in 2019.
A
Answered by: Baroness Goldie
Answered on: 04 August 2020
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is sponsoring a High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) Operational Concept Demonstrator (OCD) utilising the Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) Zephyr platform to explore the utility of this cutting edge and novel technology.
There are always setbacks when you push the boundaries of technology to explore future concepts. The unfortunate incidents in 2019 led to investigations being carried out by the relevant authorities and ADS have taken the findings and implemented improvements. ADS planned to demonstrate these improvements during the HAPS OCD this summer, but trials have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The MOD continue to work with Airbus to progress the OCD and to identify further opportunities for demonstration in order to fully explore the utility of HAPS.
Q
Asked by Lord West of Spithead
Asked on: 20 July 2020
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
OneWeb: Investment
HL7011
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to utilise OneWeb in their future defence and commercial strategies; and how many jobs they estimate will result from their investment in OneWeb in the UK.
A
Answered by: Lord Callanan
Answered on: 03 August 2020
OneWeb and its capabilities will be considered as part of the Space Strategy under the direction of the National Space Council. As the OneWeb offering matures, we will monitor its utility to critical national infrastructure, as we do with a variety of capabilities and providers.
The agreement we have secured with Bharti secures 70 existing UK jobs in OneWeb, and we will be looking to expand the company and its supply chain in the UK.
Q
Asked by Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Asked on: 20 July 2020
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Oneweb
HL7046
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement by Lord Callanan on 8 July (HL Deb, col 1119) that OneWeb “has many applications that the UK can leverage, including defence applications” and the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 14 July (HL6644) which stated that “the investment in OneWeb is not a Defence matter”, whether OneWeb has any current defence applications; if so what those applications are; and if not, when they became aware that OneWeb could not be applied to defence matters.
A
Answered by: Lord Callanan
Answered on: 03 August 2020
The current OneWeb offering does not include any defence specific applications. The investment in OneWeb is not a defence matter. Moving forward, OneWeb’s capabilities around its second-generation satellite offering will be reviewed in the context of the UK’s evolving civil and military space requirements.