The Royal Air Power has confirmed that its MQ-9A Reaper fleet has been withdrawn after 18 years in service, because the MQ-9B Protector RG1 readies for operational deployment.
Based mostly totally abroad for his or her complete service profession, the Royal Air Power’s fleet of MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial automobiles (UAVs) have been one of the vital broadly used instruments throughout the UK’s operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and the broader Center East. Greater than 173,000 hours have been flown by RAF Reapers throughout these operations, with stay airstrikes persevering with alongside their intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission via to this yr.
We reported in September because the RAF introduced it was getting ready to deploy its new MQ-9B Protector RG1 – a improvement of the Reaper airframe – that the MQ-9A fleet had been topic an in-service help contract that had a listed expiry of Sept. 30, 2025. Regardless of some suggestion that this might be prolonged to cowl any hole between the Reaper’s withdrawal and the Protector’s full introduction, it seems this feature was not taken.
Aviation Week first broke the information of the kind’s withdrawal on Sept. 30, with Janes following on Oct. 1. As each retailers talked about, no official, public announcement was on the time out there from the RAF or the broader Ministry of Defence relating to the MQ-9A’s sunset. An official announcement was finally made on Oct. 3, with the caption of a photograph of the Reaper and the Protector collectively confirming the final flight was on Sept. 30.
The Reaper was flown by the RAF’s 39 and XIII (13) squadrons. 39 Squadron was primarily based alongside U.S. Reaper models at Creech Air Power Base, Nevada, till standing down in 2022, which left XIII Squadron, primarily based at RAF Waddington, UK, to handle all persevering with Reaper operations via to retirement.
Chief of the Air Workers, Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth spoke in regards to the MQ-9A’s withdrawal: “Over the past 18-years, the Reaper Remotely Piloted Air System has been the spine of RAF operations within the Center East. Its capabilities have been important in supporting UK and Coalition forces, and it has made a big contribution to the RAF’s potential to be Agile, Built-in and Able to fly and battle. Amassing an astonishing variety of operational flying hours, I’m extremely pleased with all the RAF personnel which were concerned in its extremely expert operation over so a few years.”
Not like the MQ-9A, the MQ-9B, or Protector RG1 as it’s designated in UK service, has obtained a full army sort certificates from the UK’s Navy Aviation Authority. This allows the Protector RG1 fleet to operated in customary, unsegregated airspace alongside common air visitors, due to the plane’s elevated degree of redundancies and extra techniques fitted to the plane’s floor management stations (GCS). As such, Protector RG1s have been capable of function instantly from their residence base at RAF Waddington, whereas all RAF MQ-9 flights have been from abroad ahead working places. From a central hub at Waddington, Protectors will be dispatched for operations worldwide via airlift and sealift, in addition to supply help contained in the UK to coaching workouts and to civilian businesses, if obligatory.
The entire variety of MQ-9As in service with the RAF fluctuated over time as a result of numerous airframes being misplaced, and subsequently changed, however the notional fleet comprised 10 plane. In response to information from the UK Serials Useful resource Centre, 14 MQ-9A plane have been assigned UK army serial numbers, two of which have been recognized to have been written off and an additional two reported as de-registered.
16 Protector RG1s have been ordered to exchange the Reapers. As of the final replace in June, 4 Protector plane have been delivered to RAF Waddington with six extra airframes energetic within the U.S. for take a look at and analysis. The primary operational unit to face up with the Protector RG1 was 31 Squadron, recognized by their nickname ‘The Goldstars’. 31 Squadron beforehand flew Twister GR4s up till their disbandment alongside the retirement of the Twister in March 2019. Once more not like the Reapers, the Protector plane have, for now at the very least, been adorned with squadron markings. Alongside common RAF coverage these would seemingly be stripped earlier than deploying abroad. It’s not clear when the primary deployment will start, or whether or not it has already begun with out disclosure.
Entry into RAF service was formally declared in June 2025.
Protector RG Mk1, the UK variant of #MQ9B SkyGuardian®, has entered service with the @RoyalAirForce. The Protector program will ship a leading edge #RPAS for the UK, changing the present Reaper® functionality. #UCAV #UAV pic.twitter.com/sqKyNu1sgP
— Common Atomics Aeronautical Methods, Inc (GA-ASI) (@GenAtomics_ASI) June 26, 2025
As with the MQ-9A, the MQ-9B carries an electro-optical/infrared digicam turret and multi-mode radar as customary. Present weapon sorts in use shall be carried over, seemingly together with any podded ISR capabilities. Model new capabilities are additionally in improvement for the MQ-9B, together with airborne early warning (AEW) pods, airborne laser techniques, and extra. The plane has been ordered by numerous European international locations, with the kind’s designed suitability for unsegregated airspace being a lovely characteristic for smaller international locations with a lot much less of a capability to create massive expanses of UAV particular airspace.
Full working functionality (FOC) for the RAF’s MQ-9B fleet is anticipated to be declared in 2026.
