Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many jobs have been created in the UK by the French-Israeli Thales/Elbit Joint Venture for Watchkeeper.

The Watchkeeper air vehicle is manufactured by UAV Tactical Systems Ltd, a joint venture between Elbit Systems UK and Thales UK, under a sub-contract from Thales UK, the Watchkeeper prime contractor. The Ministry of Defence has no direct commercial relationship with UAV Tactical Systems Ltd and no estimate has therefore been made of the number of persons employed by the company. The wider Watchkeeper supply-chain sustains high-quality jobs at a number of locations across the United Kingdom.