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19 while the mission system can be subject to numerous and frequent changes as new payloads and capabilities are added. That is why keeping them separate is so critical. “Otherwise, every time you make a minor change in the software, you have to go through the whole regulatory certification route again, which is very expensive and time-consuming,” he says. In the resulting architecture, the flight management system retains all the control authority, carrying out requests from the mission system to manoeuvre the aircraft if it is safe to do so, much as a taxi driver will carry out a passenger’s requests without letting them take the wheel. One aspect of the Watchkeeper effort he found particularly satisfying was more about people than the hardware, software or systems architecture and centred on the 47th Regiment Royal Artillery, which operates the system. “I ran a lot of the trade-off studies around working out how many soldiers we needed to operate the system,” he says. “Seeing that emerge in real life, in how we organise the regiment, has been quite a journey.” A single battery operating the Watchkeeper has about 120 soldiers who will operate three task lines with a total of six aircraft when at full strength. If a single task line were deployed it would require about 40 operators and maintainers. Many engineers develop a personal philosophy towards the discipline, and Bailey’s is, as far as possible, to keep it simple. “If I can’t explain something to the senior business lead or someone like that, it’s too complicated,” he says. He sees the main challenges facing the industry as being more regulatory than engineering-related. With the Watchkeeper, the regulator is the Military Aviation Authority (MAA), although its rules have much in common with the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. “I’m thinking of our journey through the past 15 years or so; we’ve always been breaking ground with the regulator,” he says. “The regulations sometimes change faster than you can change your design – which is a bit of a problem when you’re trying to certify something!” In future, this will become particularly acute with respect to manned and unmanned systems working together. “That’s where the civil side is looking at the moment, and is struggling as well. I think the technology is there to do it, but I don’t think the regulations are around to support it.” As ISR Technical Director for EW, radar and UAS, he looks after Thales’ r&d in these areas, a wide brief that includes a lot of projects at low levels of technology readiness. The role also comes with responsibility for maintaining governance of the company’s designs. “Not doing the design but making sure it is done in a strictly controlled way,” he says. Risks and responsibility An important part of this is making sure that the design work is done by what is known in the jargon as SQEP, or Suitably Qualified and Experienced People, who are essential to the development of aircraft algorithms, for example. The job also involves ensuring that the designs follow all the relevant statutory laws and non-statutory Jonathan Bailey | In conversation Unmanned Systems Technology | February/March 2020 Working out how many soldiers are needed to operate and support the Watchkeeper was one of Bailey’s most satisfying jobs on the programme (Courtesy of the British Army)