The Army is changing the way it trained soldiers to operate unmanned aircraft after inquiry into a crash in Afghanistan warned of serious risks. The Hermes drone came down in combustion last October when an engine overheated eleven of the aircraft of crash in Afghanistan in the last five years, but a defense minister says changes have already been made with more improvements on the way James Hurst reports.

It is a vital source of intelligence for British forces on the ground in Afghanistan and the military aviation authority inquiry says the deployment of the Army’s. Hermes 450 UAVs has been an outstanding success, but it also warns significant risks have been accepted in the process risks that may have contributed to this crash.

In October last year, the drone was brought back to Camp Bastion after suffering an overheated engine. A manual landing was ruled out because of an obstructed runway, an automatic landing then aborted because of incorrectly loaded data, the engine failed and the aircraft hit an empty hangar.

Before breaking up on the tarmac in total, the report makes 68 recommendations. Although engine failure was the main cause of the accident, most of the recommendations are about people rather than equipment, including a call for the redesign of a key Royal School of artillery course for soldiers working with drones.

The mystery of Defence is stressing that hermès is an unarmed aircraft used only for surveillance and the concerns raised in this inquiry. Don’t relate to the RAF operation of drones like Reaper, which carry missiles they point out.

There has been no repeat of this incident, but figures released in Parliament a few weeks ago show that 11 hermès unmanned aircraft have crashed in Afghanistan since 2007. The Armed Forces Minister Andrew Rowbotham, said a review of the Army’s.

Training for UAVs had just been completed. The several changes already made and more improvements to come on the inquiry into this crash. The army has accepted all the recommendations and the RAF is now helping it put them into practice.

James Hirst Forces news well, the use of drones has been debated at Westminster this afternoon, with MPs from both sides of the house setting out their views on the ethics behind their use, and there future Victoria Smith’s been watching the debate in Westminster Hall was brought by Labour MP for Birmingham and Edie piston Gizella Stewart.

In the light of public concern over the British use of unmanned aerial vehicles, we deploy five different types. She demanded clarity from both sides of the house on their effectiveness, following reports of drones, causing the deaths of three thousand two hundred and twenty five civilians in Pakistan.

The question of collateral damage was a big one. Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, James gray, a former member of the Honourable Artillery Company, argued the use of drones, actually saves lives. You can, by using these things spot a particular person from a very great height one particular person.

You could track his movements. You know precisely who he is, and you can actually kill him very precisely, very technically and minimizing damage to collapse into two civilians who may be nearby that stands in sharp contrast, the use of artillery, for example, which takes out a grid square.

He also introduced us to a new term for UAVs our pass, no, not a reference to actors in vampire movies, but an abbreviation for remotely piloted aircraft systems. Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces, Kevin Jones said the opposition supports the use of our pass in principle.

We support unmanned technologies, an important element of military capability, which complements the manned aerial capability which we have got, but this there is a desire, a thing to ensure that where they are used, they’re used within the right context.

The use of our pass at sea during counter-piracy operations, for example, was also discussed, as was the psychological effect on drone operators working from Nevada at such a remote distance from their targets.

Victoria Smith forces News,