Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has considered purchasing the AeroVironment Blackwing miniature tube-launched drone.

Mr Philip Dunne

Representatives of the Department meet AeroVironment representatives on a regular basis to discuss current and potential future capabilities, and the Department is aware of the capabilities of the Blackwing Reconnaissance System. However, the Department has no capability requirement to procure an underwater launched Unmanned Aerial System at this stage, and, as such, there have not been any formal discussions with AeroVironment on a possible procurement of Blackwing.