Royal Marine tested military drone in garden pond due to red tape

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 15:32 · Archive

A Royal Marine tested an underwater military drone in his garden pond because regulatory hurdles made official testing too difficult, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting told the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee that a Royal Marine had to test underwater military drone technology in a pond in his back garden because regulatory hurdles for official testing were too high.

Streeting acknowledged the government had pursued deregulation across departments but said 'regulatory frictions' remained a problem in defence technology testing. He explained the tension between removing red tape and maintaining necessary oversight: 'You can understand why, in a defence context, you don't just take off all of the regulatory oversight and constraints because we are talking about lethal capability.'

He said defence personnel and industry were 'chomping at the bit to push the frontier of innovation' but faced barriers. While Streeting applauded the marine's entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity, he argued such work should be possible within official channels rather than forcing personnel to take risks at home.

How it is being reported

• Red tape forced Royal Marine to test underwater drone in his own garden pond, Defence Secretary revealsA Royal Marine was forced to test an underwater drone in a pond because regulatory red tape made it too hard to trial the technology elsewhere, Wes Streeting has revealed.Daily Mail · 13 Oct, 15:17
• Royal Marine forced to test military drone in garden pond, Wes Streeting claimsThe Defence Secretary applauded the innovation but slammed the ‘regulatory handcuffs’ that stood in the wayThe Independent · 13 Oct, 14:45

In this story: Wes Streeting · House of Lords · Royal Marine

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