The British Military’s Watchkeeper UAV, initially meant to depart service in March 2025, has had its troubled service life prolonged to March 2027, whereas procurement for successor platforms stays within the early phases.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) introduced in November 2024, as a part of a wider sequence of cuts, that the British Military’s Watchkeeper intelligence, surveillance, goal acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) drone can be retired from service forward of schedule. Initially this was anticipated to happen by March 2025, however continued operation of the plane from numerous places had already proven that deadline had been missed. A contract for the supply of upkeep companies for the Watchkeeper fleet issued in April 2025 indicated that the anticipated withdrawal date would as a substitute be March 2026.
Member of Parliament Luke Pollard, Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Business, has now revealed in response to a written query that the presently scheduled out of service date (OSD) for Watchkeeper is about for March 2027. The beforehand talked about contract already included a clause that allowed such an extension in form if vital.
British Military #Thales #Watchkeeper #UAV seen over #Stonehenge. Now routinely flying over southern UK. pic.twitter.com/Yb075D3nAN
— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) June 2, 2015
Proposals for a substitute plane are being sought from the business by the MoD below Mission Corvus. The tender discover for Mission Corvus was launched on Jul. 31, 2025, with an anticipated contract worth of £130 million. Business submissions have been invited as much as the deadline of Aug. 18, and a call is predicted round Mar. 31, 2026. The contract will then run from Could. 1, 2026 to Apr. 30, 2031, with an elective 5 yr extension working till Apr. 30, 2026.
The Watchkeeper’s main position as a part of the broader British Military stock is named Land Tactical Deep Discover, or LTDF, primarily performing as a option to prolong the ISTAR horizon for deployed floor forces. As such, the UAV was operated by 47 Regiment Royal Artillery. The plane’s basic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities have been additionally employed over the English Channel to help civilian border enforcement businesses.
Any substitute plane is predicted to match Watchkeeper’s LTDF capabilities whereas bettering upon survivability in contested airspace, together with areas topic to digital warfare and GPS jamming assaults. The brand new platform should have the ability to be operated consistent with present 47 Regt staffing ranges, with minimal change to present coaching practices. It should even be simply adaptable and upgradeable to match rising threats and technological developments. A lot of corporations are anticipated to have submitted bids, with one key contender considered Tekever, who’ve made big inroads by way of unmanned capabilities and have established a big presence inside the UK.
Beginning of a #Watchkeeper #UAVNow totally operational in Camp Bastion #Afghanistan with #BritishArmy#Thales pic.twitter.com/cQ3IrhwBfo
— Tom Antonov (@Tom_Antonov) September 29, 2014
Watchkeeper’s Woes
Watchkeeper, a Thales product, is a spinoff of Elbit’s Hermes 450 UAV, in service since 1998. Regardless of utilizing a longtime kind as its foundation, Watchkeeper’s entry into full UK navy service was notoriously suffering from delays, crashes, and price range overruns. Ordered in 2007, the primary UK flight of a Watchkeeper plane occurred in 2010. A certification from the Army Aviation Authority adopted in 2014, and the plane was rushed into operational service over Afghanistan alongside leased Hermes 450 drones.
Poor climate within the UK noticed coaching and trials moved to Ascension Island. By 2018, the programme was £200 million over its meant price range, and, of the 54 plane ordered, 5 had already been misplaced in crashes. Additional losses continued to mount up over the next years.
#UK security watchdog highlights Watchkeeper #UAV shortfalls pic.twitter.com/v62GIrjBIZ
— Janes (@JanesINTEL) April 23, 2019
After the announcement of the plane kind’s early withdrawal, Vernon Coaker, Baron Coaker, Minister of State within the Ministry of Defence, advised the Home of Lords that “that system has been in service since 2010 and, in accordance with all of the navy chiefs, is outdated.” He added that classes discovered from the warfare in Ukraine have signaled {that a} new functionality is required. Previous to the November 2024 announcement, Watchkeeper was anticipated to serve within the British Military till 2042.
This was echoed by voices inside the navy, who advised reporters and ministers that the plane are “not match for operational objective”. Although on the floor an odd remark to make concerning a platform that has solely in the previous couple of years been a readily deployable functionality, Watchkeeper’s origins within the conflicts going through the UK 20 years in the past reveal its age and its weaknesses. Now trying on the prospect of peer on peer conflicts, relatively than fights towards insurgencies, the British Military, and the broader British navy, is making an attempt to consolidate its capabilities and benefit from new applied sciences and techniques that have been virtually unthinkable even ten years in the past.
Not like extra fashionable gear, designed from the outset with modularity and upgradeability as key options, Watchkeeper’s pathways to include new methods, and even software program, would possible be far more costly and laborious.
These issues, for a profitable platform, may have the ability to be missed. However for Watchkeeper, which, as reported by Amelia Smith for The Conflict Zone in 2023, recorded just one,191 flying hours throughout a 4 yr interval between 2018 and 2022 – far in need of the specified 6,000 flying hours per yr – they have been simply extra causes to declare the platform out of date earlier than it ever bought a real check on the frontline.
