This piece is about what can only be described as the militarisation of the west coast of Wales. It takes us from within sight of Harlech Castle to where you can hear the bells of St. David’s Cathedral.
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BACKGROUND, LLANBEDR
I’ve written a few times about Llanbedr over the years after receiving information from locals wondering what the hell is going on there. Naturally, I did some digging. So it’s worth looking at what’s happened over the past six years or so, what was promised, and how it all might impact on the wider area.
Let’s start by telling you the airfield is owned by the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’. That’s what I learnt when I downloaded the Land Registry title document in February 2022. I went back to the LR a few days ago and there’s been no change.
The transfer or purchase was done in August 2006. Here’s the LR title doc.
Next, it was leased to Llanbedr Airfield Estates LLP, with the help of two loans delivered in June 2012. One from The Secretary of State for Defence, the other from ‘The Welsh Ministers’.
This company was renamed Snowdonia Aerospace LLP in August 2015. Among the directors we find Lee John Paul and his wife Gillian.
Then a second lease was taken out on April 1 2020, with a different title number, and this time the lease was in the name of Snowdonia Aerospace Estates LLP. Here again we find Mr and Mrs Paul.
This company was formed in October 2019, which suggests it was set up specifically for the new lease. But why two leases? Were there material changes?
The money for this second lease seems to have come from Compass Point Estates LLP (the Pauls again), and the two loans involved were cleared in June this year. So let’s look a little more closely at Compass Points Estates LLP.
The first thing I noticed was the name. Because Compass Accountants is the firm that works for most if not all of Lee Paul’s companies.
Something else worth noting is that in addition to Mr and Mrs Paul the only designated member of Compass Point Estates is Ocean Park Investments Ltd. The directors here are Lee John Paul and Inspired By Ltd. With the latter also acting as company secretary and controlling interest.
The only directors of Inspired By Ltd are Lee and Gillian Paul. Though in these times of economic uncertainty it’s nice to report a company on the up. For in the three years between 2022 and 2025 fixed assets increased by over six million pounds.
What can account for this? I might have an explanation later. But we can safely assume that, while others have come and gone in the Llanbedr saga, and no matter what company and LLP names pop up, the one constant is Lee John Paul.
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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT LLANBEDR AND ELSEWHERE
Let’s start in November last year with an announcement from European Security & Defence that reads: “Anduril UK launches new test site in northwest Wales“. The unnamed site is of course Llanbedr.
Anduril UK announced on 11 November 2025 the launch of a new test site in Wales.
The site is being used to test “a suite of AI-powered products for UK military use, including reconnaissance, command-and-control, and targeting capabilities”, the company stated, adding that “several of these sovereign capabilities are actively flying in the Welsh countryside while they are evaluated by Anduril engineers”.
So who or what is Anduril? Well, here’s the Anduril website. It’s an arms company closely associated with the US military establishment. Formed as recently as 2017, and specialising in drones.
And to judge by the quote above, these drones were already “flying in the Welsh countryside” in November 2025. Who knew? Because I don’t recall any media coverage, nor hearing anything from politicians.
A report from July 24 tells that Anduril is expanding fast.
Though I’m reliably informed that: “Anduril Industries is not directly ‘approved’ as an entity by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), but the company actively navigates UK airspace regulations through partnerships with certified specialists“.
So we have a site owned by the ‘Welsh Government’, leased to Lee John Paul, that would appear to be a base for a US company testing drones for the UK military.
And yet, the lease agreement expressly forbids Llanbedr airfield being used “to develop drones for military purposes“. But this is exactly what’s happening there now.
The lease agreement also stipulates the airfield must be open to commercial and general aviation. Which I take to mean private planes. Is this still the case? I doubt it.
And Llanbedr airfield must benefit the local economy. How many locals does it employ?
In fact, it’s all being done with little regard for the locals. Here’s a letter dated July 1 from Lee John Paul to Cyngor Cymuned Llanbedr (Community Council) addressing complaints about the activities currently being carried out. Presumably for Anduril.
In this open letter he promises that in future there’ll be no “engine start-ups and departures” before 7 am Monday to Friday. Which means locals must have been subjected to noise from the airfield very early in the morning. (Or at night?) And you don’t need to be a sluggabed to think 7am is still a bit early.
Paul also promises the drones will fly over the sea a little more in future. Which must mean that heavy military drones have been flying across land. Are they armed? Even if they’re not armed, a crashing drone is very, very dangerous. And Llanbedr’s record is not inspiring.
There was a drone crash there about a year ago. The Windracers Ultra Mk II involved can – depending on payload – weigh up to 670 kg. That ploughing into the bar of the Queen Vic would have been the ultimate last orders for many members of the drinking classes!
And there was an earlier mishap in September 2024.
One final thought on Llanbedr. Those familiar with the area will know that the main coast road hits a bottleneck here, partly due to a narrow stone bridge. A bypass was promised, but then cancelled late in 2021 by the ‘Welsh Government to meet “net-zero carbon targets“.
A substitute arrangement has since been mooted, but it might be worth remembering that the original bypass planned would have gone to the west of the village – towards the airfield.
Just a thought.
Let me return now to the uptick in fortunes for Inspired By Ltd, which I alluded to earlier. If we go to the two charges held against this company by Lloyds Bank we see reference to Brawdy, the former Fleet Air Arm base in Pembrokeshire.
You won’t be surprised to learn there have also been developments at Brawdy. Some of you may already be aware of them. Maybe you’ve been protesting.
The latest news is that the plan to install 20 metre high ‘deep space’ radar dishes has now been called in by the ‘Welsh Government’.
Lee John Paul was originally involved with Brawdy through a company called Brawdy Business Park Ltd, which was Dissolved in April 2013. Leaving behind a number of unpaid loans, including one from the Welsh Development Agency.
More recently – as you’ve read above – a loan naming Brawdy has been taken out by Paul’s company Inspired By Ltd. There may be other companies involved, Paul has quite a number.
It could well be that the increase in assets filed by Inspired By Ltd can be explained by a deal Paul struck with those who clearly have big plans for Brawdy. Maybe Llanbedr.
Moving up the coast we find, just north of Aberteifi, the airfield at Aberporth, which has for some time been used for drone testing, with quite a few mishaps there as well. Such as the one that crashed too near a school for comfort.
Aberporth was taken over about a year ago by Portuguese outfit Tekever. (Here’s the company website.) And as with Llanbedr, “It’s not clear at the moment whether General Aviation access will continue“. Suggesting it’ll be restricted to military use.
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CONCLUSIONS AND THOUGHTS
It would appear that these three facilities on our west coast are being turned over entirely to the testing of military drones and associated technology. This will almost certainly mean no access for other users, and no jobs for locals.
All on the west coast, eh – are we being threatened from Ireland? My wife and I had visitors from County Galway on Sunday and they showed no sign of hostile intent. But then, those Irish smiles can beguile.
The reasonable conclusion to draw is that this increase in drone testing is being done to drag out the war in Ukraine, and to keep the Kokehead Klown of Kiev afloat for a bit longer – with more deaths – before he makes the territorial concessions he and everyone else knows he’ll have to make.
From another angle, and a more domestic viewpoint, there’s an interesting timeline involved. For the developments at Llanbedr, Brawdy and Aberporth, while external in origin, seem to have been announced, or took place, when the Labour administration in Corruption Bay was in its final tailspin.
With everybody knowing Labour was going to lose this May’s Senedd elections.
Were these developments some kind of poisoned chalice for Plaid Cymru? They certainly pose a big, big problem for that party.
Not least because Plaid Cymru is, fundamentally and historically, a pacifist party. It always has been. And seeing as we’re dealing with military installations on the western side of the country we can’t ignore what happened at Penyberth, on Llŷn, in 1936.
When three Plaid Cymru luminaries, including party president (and World War One veteran) Saunders Lewis, made a symbolic attack on an RAF bombing school.
Plaid Cymru remains a pacifist party. So how it responds to the developments at Llanbedr, Brawdy and Aberporth, will be interesting. We see that the new Plaid government has called in the plans for Brawdy, but of course it doesn’t own that site.
But it does own Llanbedr.
My fear is that these three sites will become some kind of ‘sovereign territory’, beyond the control of any level of government within Wales. Employing no locals, closed to private aviation, contributing little or nothing to the economies of the areas around them, and even putting local lives at risk.
Which is why the Plaid Cymru ‘Welsh Government’ needs to make its position clear, as a matter of urgency. And I’m not sure it can wait until they they get back from their summer hols in mid September.
To not do so – especially if that inaction is on the orders of the UK government – will be another reminder that devolution is a sham.
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© Royston Jones 2026
