UK military prevented to fly drones over soldiers’ heads

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The British troops that are preparing for a future war with Russia fight against a formidable adversary near the house:

It has prevented to fly to soldiers drones On their comrades or using signaling equipment as they train in the Salisbury plain, two deputies who witnessed a recent exercise told the Financial Times.

The guidelines of the Ministry of Defense prevent drones from weighing more than 250g, about the weight of a cucumber, to be flown on the heads of the people during training, even if they are sitting in a tank.

Deputies also said they were told that the United Kingdom Data Protection Regulation – And concern about the impact on residents who lived near the training ground, had prevented soldiers from practicing electronic war, including – there’s “signs” data on jam drones.

Deputies warned that strict rules potentially leave the British troops heading to the Russian border without sufficient formation in the modern war.

“British soldiers who unfold as part of a deterrent force in places like Estonia and Eastern Europe leave without the type of training and capacity that is completely standard of war, either in the Middle East or Ukraine,” said Fred Thomas, a Labor Member who is located on the Defense Selection Committee.

In a training exercise in March, the soldiers told members of the Defense Selection Committee of the House of Commons that they even needed to submit multiple applications for permit to the military aviation authority to fly a drone on a tank without people.

The military regulations of the United Kingdom on drones are based on the rules of civil aviation authority, which aim to prevent drones from being near airports. They require the approval of the military aviation authority for any drone flight over people, near buildings or outside the operator’s sight.

The ubiquity of cheap drones has changed the war in Ukraine since the large -scale Russian invasion in 2022. It is used for artillery attack and kinetic attacks, drones now represent 60 to 80 percent of the casualties of the battlefield on both sides, according to Ukrainian officials.

Both Russian and Ukrainian troops have taken the radio control frequencies and video links between drones and riders to try to keep flying devices at bay.

Thomas expressed his concern for the regulations to prevent the UK troops from dominating the same skills, adding that he had heard soldiers buying online equipment to practice themselves.

“They are measuring measures to try to protect themselves online and buying a kit to do it to see if the frequencies cannot be wrapped,” he said.

A person inside the military said that more remote areas in the United Kingdom could be used for signal preparation and to extend their use on the Salisbury plain was ultimately a political decision.

“Suddenly you can’t turn off all the Satnavs in Amesbury just because you are learning about the electronic war,” added the person.

One of the former soldiers with knowledge of training restrictions said that more realistic training will save lives, even if there is a more domestic interruption. “They say I can’t be under a drone because I could fall into my head,” the person added.

The MOD said he was aware of the restrictions on the formation of electronic war, but said that there are no specific reports on GDPR restrictions affecting activities.

“We are constantly experimenting with innovative technology, included in the Drone War,” said the mod, who added that it was correct to “balance security with the need to train.”

“To protect operational safety and non -military environments, people would also expect us to make sure that electronic war capabilities have some restrictions,” added the MOD.

One of the experts in military drone flight regulations, who requested that they remain anonymous, said that a draft of the proposed rule changes may end with some of the restrictions allowing drones to fly over the heads of soldiers as long as they receive a security report first.