In today’s blog read more about an announcement expected by the Prime Minister on a future UAV project with the French and Army training in Northumberland.
Future Combat Air System
The Times, Express, Daily Mirror and Bloomberg all report that the Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce a £1.5 billion deal with the French government today to develop the next generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The article looks ahead to the UK-France Defence summit today in Amiens, noting that the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will be in attendance and that he will be meeting the French Defence Secretary Monsieur Le Drian. The piece states that the centrepiece of the announcement is expected to be a project to build a prototype of the next generation of drone. It says Britain will contribute £750 million, and BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce will be involved.
Brecon Beacons deaths
Various papers including The Times, Daily Mirror, Guardian, Sun, Independent and Express report on yesterday’s announcement that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to administer a Crown Censure against the MOD over the deaths on a selection course in July 2013. The papers carry comments from the (HSE). Our statement is below.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said:
The MOD acknowledges this censure and has apologised for the failures identified by the Coroner and the Health and Safety Executive. We have made several improvements to reduce the risks on such exercises, and the Defence Safety Authority is conducting a service inquiry to identify any further lessons to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy. Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of Corporal James Dunsby, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Trooper Edward Maher.
Medals
Following yesterday’s Prime Minister Questions various papers including the Daily Mirror and Times report on the discussion about the production of British war medals and whether they could be produced outside of the UK.
The Cabinet Office, who lead on the issue, have issued the following statement:
Cabinet Office spokesperson:
I can confirm that no French firm has been awarded a contract. Eight companies won a place on the medals and insignia framework, including seven British firms. Last year we introduced new procurement rules to take local impact into account when awarding contracts and that is what we intend to do.
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