Lambert is Engineering Director Systems and Strategy at BAE Systems, Military Air & Information. A key player in developing the UK National Airspace Technology Strategy in 2001, where a need for more work on autonomous systems was identified, he was appointed Programme Director of ASTRAEA in 2006, about six months after the first phase of the programme began.
As Programme Director, Lambert is in an unusual position as ASTRAEA is constituted as a consortium so there is no prime contractor.
“I’m the independent person who chairs the Management Group,” he explained. “The Group guides the direction ASTRAEA takes and ensures the Programme meets the terms of its contract with government stakeholders.”
Lambert is also heavily engaged in external relations so he makes speeches and presentations on behalf of ASTRAEA, liaises with stakeholders, the press and public interest groups and potential user groups. He then reflects the results of these interactions back to the Management Group.
“While it’s vitally important not to drift from our ultimate aim, the Programme must be open to new ideas, opportunities and changing perceptions,” he explained. “We are speaking now to potential user groups to learn how they want to use UAS and also to explain to them, from the technical side, what to expect – what UAS are capable of.”
As an example of new ideas, Lambert mentioned the Virtual Certification process now underway with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). He said this was not envisaged at the start of ASTRAEA but emerged over time as an innovative way to work with the regulators on establishing the efficacy of technology developments. With the open dialogue established in Virtual Certification, the UAS industry will be able to focus its development efforts in areas best suited to achieving certification when it becomes available.
Lambert sees the future of UAS after ASTRAEA as one of gradual development but ultimately promising. He predicts the first adopters will be the police and the coast guards because they can be licensed nationally and have extensive manned operational experience in the areas (search, surveillance, etc.) where they could benefit from operating unmanned vehicles.
“But public perception is a real hurdle for UAS,” he said, “especially in the UK. We hear mostly about ‘killer drones’ and ‘spies in the sky’ and it will take time for people to understand the benefits UAS will provide.”
Operational timeframe? Lambert predicts 2015-2020 will see the beginning of those police and coast guard UAS operations. After 2020, with improved public perception, advanced technology and lower cost, UAS will become as common in the sky as light aircraft and, eventually, more common.