MOD’s Innovation Initiative to bring future-tech and ideas to the Armed Forces is widely reported in today’s papers.
INNOVATION
The Defence Secretary’s launch of the government’s new Innovation Initiative backed by an £800m fund is reported in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Financial Times. The initiative will include a dragon’s den-style innovation panel and new hub to bring together industry and government. Reports focus on the example of tiny "micro-drones" with tiny flapping wings inspired by the biology of a dragon fly, which could have a "huge impact" on operations in urban environments.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
This new approach will help to keep Britain safe while supporting our economy, with our brightest brains keeping us ahead of our adversaries.
Backed by a defence budget that will rise every year until the end of the decade, it will ensure that the UK maintains its military advantage in an increasingly dangerous world.
SYRIA
The Financial Times and Guardian report that the UN is working with Russia to bring about a “humanitarian pause” to fighting in Syria’s Aleppo, hours after reports of a gas attack on rebel-held districts of the city.
DAESH
It is widely reported including on the front page of The Guardian, BBC News, Good Morning Britain and Sky News that a schoolgirl who fled Britain last year to join Daesh is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Syria, apparently while planning to escape. Kadiza Sultana, who left her east London home in February 2015 with friends Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, is thought to have died during a Russian airstrike on the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa in May this year.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
A tiny Unmanned Aerial System with flapping wings inspired by the biology of a dragonfly, currently in development with Animal Dynamics. The micro-drone will use cutting edge micro-engineering for unparalleled levels of performance. This has the potential to have a huge impact on intelligence-gathering in future operations in complex urban environments.
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