The UK Home Office is looking at the possibility of setting up a fleet of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to support police and emergency response operations nationwide, according to a report in www.flightglobal.com. A paper on a UAV capability as part of an effects-based approach to airborne policing is now being circulated within the Home Office.

The proposal gives short-term priority to the fielding of niche capabilities. "It is looking over the hedge, and around the corner," said a Home Office aviation adviser. UAVs are increasingly being seen as a core element of future police air operations in the UK.

Rent rather than own
The paper recommends that the fleet should be developed over several years, by contracting the services rather than through state ownership. The UAV types would range from mini to large endurance systems. The scheme would be driven centrally by the Home Office, through partial funding to ensure fielding by all 43 police forces in the UK. An exercise is underway at present to draft a basic user requirement for UAVs.

Interestingly, the paper recommends service contracts for both manned and unmanned surveillance systems. "Rather than the police owning aircraft and assets, we can derive the capability we need through a service provision. Getting industry to propose the solution is seen as an essential way ahead, while centralised funding is the key," the adviser said.

Air trials
Trials are presently underway by the Merseyside police and West Midlands emergency services, of the Microdrone GmbH MD4-200 quadrotor, using ground teams of two - one operating the UAV and one safety and communications officer providing air traffic liaison - to allow co-operative manned and unmanned operations to occur.

While the cost-benefit aspect of the Merseyside trial is still to be formally assessed, an early lesson is recognition of the need to incorporate UAVs into the standardised UK police air operations manual. Those modifications would include how UAVs are to operate in conjunction with manned police aircraft, and potential conflicts can be avoided. Where there is an incident and both attend, the manned aircraft will take primacy in the area.