SOLDIERS have been banned from flying drones over people during training due to health and safety rules.
The strict regulations mean troops may be ill-prepared for modern warfare, experts have warned.
Soldiers training on , Wilts, have been barred from flying pilotless aircraft weighing similar to a packet of biscuits over colleagues’ heads — even if they are sitting in a tank.
had to file multiple requests just to fly a drone over an empty tank, soldiers told the .
Soldiers gearing up for possible conflict with are also barred from using signal jammers or practising other electronic warfare in case they breach data collection rules by intercepting information or set off local residents’ devices.
Defence chiefs insist the rules are there to protect people.
But MPs say the red tape is actually putting lives at risk.
MP Fred Thomas told the Financial Times: “British soldiers who are deploying as part of a deterrence force to places like Estonia and eastern Europe are going without the kind of training and capability that is completely bog-standard in warfare now, whether it is in the Middle East or Ukraine.”;
says account for up to .
The admitted there are restrictions, but claimed data rules are not directly stopping training.
