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Thales is proud to be sponsoring the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 150th anniversary opening event

The Society’s prestigious black tie debate and dinner in London will focus on the motion ‘This house believes there will be no need for pilots 40 years from now’. Experts will debate for and against the motion.

As the world’s only professional body dedicated to the aerospace community, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) exists to further the advancement of aeronautical art, science and engineering around the world.

Established in 1866, the society has been at the forefront of developments in aerospace, seeking to promote the highest professional standards in all aerospace disciplines, act as a central forum for the exchange of ideas and play a leading role in influencing opinion on aerospace matters.
 
Thales is a global leader in the civil and military aerospace sectors and the development of cutting edge avionics and missions systems for both manned and unmanned air systems.
 
Thales have been invited to speak at the dinner and will give an overview of the Thales Watchkeeper unmanned air system (UAS), which has recently made some ground-breaking developments in the field of unmanned aviation.

Thales, together with the UK MoD has worked to deliver a world leading capability for the British Army. Watchkeeper is the first and only UAS to have gone through a complex certification journey, to grow an emerging technology into a certified, airworthy unmanned aircraft system.

As the first UAS of its type to undergo rigorous testing and approvals, Watchkeeper forms the basis for advancing the use of UAS in civil, unsegregated airspace.

In September 2015, Thales played a key role in the first flight by an unmanned aircraft in controlled and unsegregated airspace. In what was hailed as a major milestone in the development of unmanned aircraft systems for civil and commercial use, Watchkeeper took off from West Wales Airport and embarked on a three hour flight, part of which took a UAS into civil controlled airspace for the first time.

Watchkeeper is also in service with the British Army and has served in Afghanistan on live life-saving operations.

Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales in the UK, said: We congratulate the RAeS on achieving this historic landmark anniversary and are proud to be sole sponsors of this inaugural event in their 150th year. We very much look forward to developing stronger ties as we continue to contribute to the future of aerospace technology.”

“We continue to be a key player in manned aircraft programmes for civil and military applications and as a leader in UAS our aim is to evolve UAS capabilities, export by incorporating new sensors and payloads. We see a growing interest in weaponising these platforms and see a strong growth in this sector both in Europe and in the broader export market.”

Martin Broadhurst OBE FRAeS, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, said: Thales are industry leaders in the development of unmanned air systems so we are delighted that they are sponsoring the opening event in our 150th anniversary calendar. The role of unmanned systems in both civil and defence arenas is growing rapidly and the Society is proud to have one of the sector’s technology leaders as a valued corporate partner.”