UK Army Reports 282 Personnel in Centralised sUAS Training, Plans 915 Additional Spaces

The British Army currently has 282 personnel enrolled in centralised small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS) training pathways delivered by the Land Warfare Centre, with plans to expand capacity to 915 centralised training spaces and approximately 2,000 distributed training places in future financial years.

The figures were disclosed by the Minister for the Armed Forces  Al Carns in response to a parliamentary question from Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge MP, who sought clarification on military participation in drone training programmes following previous answers regarding undergraduate drone degree enrollment.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that centralised sUAS training is conducted at the Land Warfare Centre, with follow-on distributed training delivered by individual Field Army units. However, the MOD stated that exact figures for personnel currently undertaking distributed training are not held centrally, highlighting potential gaps in training pipeline visibility across the force structure.

The disclosed numbers reveal the scale of the Army's sUAS training requirement as small drone systems become integral to tactical operations. The planned expansion to 915 centralised training spaces represents a more than threefold increase over current enrollment, suggesting significant capability growth is planned.

The response did not address Cartlidge's specific question regarding how many civilian or military personnel enrolled in the undergraduate drone degree programme would subsequently participate in Army sUAS training pathways.