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UAVs have become an increasingly important feature of modern armed forces offering the opportunity for sustained surveillance and observation, day or night, for up to 24 hours a day. Their value was demonstrated by Israel since 1982 but the have been used extensively during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and were certainly used by Iranian forces during their war with Iraq in the 1980s. The British Army has been aware of the value of UAVs operating the Canadair Midge 501 from 1972 which was replaced in 32 Regiment by the BAE Systems’ Phoenix system from 1999. But it required a launcher ramp, could not operate in extreme heat, in high altitude or in sandy conditions. A replacement was urgently needed and a requirement for the Watchkeeper UAV System was issued in 2002 for an all-weather, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) system. The contract was awarded to Thales UK in July 2005, and the system is scheduled to enter service in 2011. The UK industrial Watchkeeper team led by Prime


Contractor Thales UK includes; UTACs of Leicester (major subsystems integrator and production), Lola of Huntingdon (composite UAV tooling and manufacture); Cobham of Wimborne (subsystems assemblies) Cubic Corporation and Ultra of Greenford (datalinks), Elbit (for the air vehicles);; Marshall SV (ground station shelters and vehicles); Praxis (programme safety); QinetiQ (airworthiness consultancy) Thales UK (image management and exploitation,, Ground environment software and Sensor Systems, Imaster Radar and sensors, Navigation, Communication systems) ; UAV Engines (aircraft engine) and Selex (Vega) (training) as well as key UK SME suppliers. The aircraft, Watchkeeper WK450, is based upon the Elbit Hermes 450 medium endurance aircraft, which 32 Regiment already operate and which will be built by a joint venture UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS), It is powered by a Wankel principle rotary engine which is made in the United Kingdom by UAV Engines, The aircraft can operate in all weathers thanks to an American-developed de-icing


system and it has a range of up to 150 kilometres and an endurance of 14-17 hours. Watchkeeper will be operated from paved runways, although Take-off and landing can be performed from rough airstrips through the Thales Magic X (or I/J)-band (8-12 GHz) automatic take-off and landing system (ATOLS) and the aircraft can carry out variable automatic and autonomous missions via the mission commander and mission planning systems. The Watchkeeper Ground Control Station will be capable of operating and commanding up to three UAV’s, which can be retasked, redirected in flight from the ground. The systems features a Rockwell Collins (Athena Technologies) Athena 411lightweight (1 kilogramme) navigation system which combines an integrated inertial navigation, global positioning and an air data attitude heading reference system. The Cubic wide-band data link can be installed on the air vehicle and can be used to provide extended range operation. The WK 450 can carry a 150 kilogramme payload and has a dual-payload configuration, with an


A Watchkeeper UAV runs up its engine prior to take off. Photo credit Thales UK


G3 DEFENCE


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