Military Transformation and Local Politics
Last night I chaired the public BEPJ meeting on the Middle East held in Carmarthen. The speakers at the meeting, Anne Dickinson, Maggie Nicols and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM, spoke about the current situation in Palestine, the war and ceasefire in Lebanon and also the non violent direct action in Parliament Square by Brian Law. However it was when we got into the question and answer session that a lively debate ensued. A major issue was raised about whether the National Assembly For Wales has any powers to intervene in issues such as low flying military aircraft and other activities in West Wales. Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM (Plaid Cymru), who had delivered an excellent speech on Plaid Cymru's Middle East policy and also on the current position in Lebanon and Palestine, said that the Assembly were not involved in defence issues and had no realpowers to influence the Government on these issues apart from sending letters of protest etc. It was at this point that I raised the issue of the ASTRAEA project and NAFW commitment to invest £3 million in the Aberporth based project with him. Rhodri said that whilst he was aware of some of the developments in Aberporth he did not know about the commitment to fund the ASTRAEA project and was sure this had not been debated on the floor of the assembly. This project is extremely worrying for we ordinary mortals living in West Wales as most of us only get to hear about the WDA trumpetings of new jobs and economic development opportunities but nothing about what is actually being planned at Parc Aberporth. To put it simply, what kind of jobs are they going to be and what will the products arising out of this industrial development be used for? There was lively discussion about the way in which many of the areas where US, UK and Israeli forces are in action appear to be testing grounds for much of the new technology that is being developed by Armaments companies and also govt agencies around the world. It was generally accepted by the meeting that at the very least people have a right to know what their elected representatives are going to spend their taxes on BEFORE they spend them. It was suggested that a demonstration on the issue of UCAV research and development at Parc Aberporth and at the QinetiQ site in Aberporth be organised in the near future. This was a positive Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA) suggestion and one which will need some co-ordination between anti-war groups and others across Wales. I shall also be writing to Rhodri and asking him to pose some key questions on the way in which the National Assembly appears so keen to get into bed with the following partners:- EADS ( European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), FRL (Flight Refueling Limited), THALES , BAE Systems , all of which are amongst the major Armaments developers in the world. It is time that Andrew Davies AM, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Enterprise Innovation and Networks, began to understand that Wales is a fledging democracy and that the people of Wales do not want to be larded up with spin in the usual smoke and mirrors approach of Westminster style government. We demand better and we want to know that our industry in Wales is being used for other purposes than being part of the US led world domination inspired military transformation strategy that Bush and Blair have so completely bought into. So, what is this strategy and where does it come from? more info in next posting....
posted by Harriboy @ 1:33 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Dear Mr Rogers,
I have read with interest and concern your blogs regarding unmanned vehicles. However I am concerned rather with your views rather than the vehicles themselves. I have followed the development of unmanned air vehicles for a number of years and I unfortunately must say that I find your views to be grossly misinformed; while I would not ordinarily concern myself with people’s personal opinions I understand that you are involved with organising a protest against the ParcAberporth industrial park. I find this to be very worrying, the UK has a great potential in the industry and many benefits for the UK can potentially be found sprouting from playing a prominent role.
First of all I would like to point out the inaccuracies in the use of terms such as “unmanned war machines”. In particular you link this term with ASTRAEA, I have a feeling that you cannot have researched this programme thoroughly before commenting on it. The programme is intended to develop the technologies, procedures etc to allow UAVs to operate safely in UK airspace. This is not directly linked to the military in fact quite the opposite, it will allow UAVs to be used by civilian operators and national services such as the police, coastguard etc.
As I said earlier many benefits are found here, for example with regard to the coastguard, the greater range and endurance offered by UAVs can allow for more area of coast and sea to be monitored for a longer period of time and of course with more vehicles on station for longer they can detect disaster far quicker. It would also allow this to be done far more cost effectively freeing money for other areas. The application of this was seen in a test sortie carried out by BAE Systems of there HERTI UAV; the aircraft took off from Campbeltown airport and flew over Machrihanish Bay where it identified a 25cm target from an altitude of several thousand feet, a human operator could never have found the target. This technology has to potential to saves lives. Other applications include pipeline monitoring, power line monitoring, disaster area monitoring, runway inspection, search and rescue, crop inspection, wildlife monitoring, cartography and many others.
Directly related to ParchAberporth it might be of interest to you that a demonstration was recently provided there to the police force by Nitrohawk, the purpose of which was to demonstrate the utility of such systems to the police force which could help them with many of there day to day tasks.
While UAVs have predominantly been the domain of high tech militaries this is because the technological leap has not been taken to integrate them into the wider world airspace, by hampering ParcAberporth you will only serve to keep UAVs out of the hands of those that could use them to great humanitarian benefit not stop any military use.
Some other UAVs that you have mentioned include the Qinetiq Zephyr, however you must surely be aware that the first customer of this system will be the Flemish Institute for Technological Research which will use the vehicle (dubbed Mercator in there service) for environmental monitoring and mapping purposes. It is disingenuous to simply call these systems “war machines”.
There are many other examples of UAV companies that have there sights set on the civilian market, in some cases predominantly or solely the civilian market. CARVEC for example produce simple UAV systems based on model aircraft which are meant to be used for local area monitoring of large complexes or to provide aerial camera sequences for film and television. Warrior (Aero-Marine) is developing amphibious UAVs and is aiming towards the coastguard market. Nitrohawk, as mentioned earlier, are courting the non-military market such as the police and fire services and as with CARVEC they offer there UAV for use in the film and television industry with there aircraft being used on the latest James Bond film for example. Skycell are a very good example of civilian use UAVs, there primary market is the world of professional photographers, they use there lighter than air vehicles for such diverse things as roof survey and aerial photography.
As with any technology UAVs are not inherently evil, what matters is how they are used. Even in terms of military use UAVs this is nevertheless the case, I have as much concern as you when such systems are used to harm civilians and such but I would hope that you would see the need for military force in some circumstances and as such the need for armed forces. Given this I would also hope that you would agree that in these circumstances the armed forces must be equipped with whatever they require. I mean would you have denied the British armed forces any advantage over Argentina during the Falklands war potentially resulting in the loss of more lives and perhaps the population of the islands being forced to either leave there homes and businesses or live under constant and indefinite occupation?
I would wholeheartedly support you should you decide to investigate and lobby to firm up the export control laws governing unmanned vehicle related technologies; I would also support you should you protest against any use of UAVs that is against humanitarian or any other law. However I believe your total and wholesale targeting of the UAV industry as a single entity is counterproductive and inflammatory, it will only serve to slow down the UK industry’s development resulting in a less globally competitive industry and at worst the denial of revolutionary and in some cases life saving technologies to other national and civilian operators.
With all this in mind I urge you and any others supporting you to take a much more comprehensive look at the industry and its wider benefits before taking any action against it.
Regards
Mike
Is this really true about ParcAberporth?? I am shocked!
Post a Comment
<< Home