Selex Galileo pulls out of Parc Aberporth

Selex Galileo the Italian arms company which has carried out testing of it UAV’s at ParcAberporth has announced that it will be closing its operation as part of a wider scaling down of its manufacturing, engineering and support operations in the UK. A total of 150 jobs will be cut from its sites in Basildon, Luton and Parc Aberporth which accounts for less than 10 posts.

The firm said the job cuts were due to decreasing defence budgets and loss of and delays in major programmes.

This could well be the final nail in the coffin of the Parc Aberporth UAV “Centre of Excellence”. Most of the offices are now being offered for rent to any company which will take them for any purpose and their has been almost total silence from the Welsh Assembly on the project for months.

An announcement by the Civil Aviation Authority on whether WAG’s application for a 500 square mile UAV testing zone or “segregated airspace” is to be approved is long overdue, and the WAG official who was responsible for managing the application as well as the proceeding public consultation has now left WAG to take up a new post with the CAA.