Watchkeeper WK450 is a £800 million contract awarded in July 2005 to
ThalesThe Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
to provide the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
with an
unmanned aerial vehicleAn unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
(UAV) for all weather, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (
ISTARISTAR stands for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing the information they gather.Information is collected on...
) use.
The Watchkeeper is based on the
Elbit Hermes 450-Operators: *In June 2008, Azerbaijan ordered ten Hermes 450, choosing it over other drone models because of its "'invisibility' for the enemy's anti-aircraft defense." On September 12, 2011, a UAV was reportedly shot down by the air defense arm of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army over the...
UAVAn unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
(designated WK450). The engine is the rotary
Wankel engineThe Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons. Its four-stroke cycle takes place in a space between the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing and a rotor that...
. It has a mass of 450 kg and a payload capacity of 150 kg, with a typical endurance of 17 hours. It was originally intended to enter service in June 2010.
The Watchkeeper is built in the UK by a
joint ventureA joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
company, UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS), set up by the
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i company
Elbit SystemsElbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide....
(51% ownership) and French company Thales. UAV Engines Ltd, who build the rotary engine in the UK, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems. The majority Israeli ownership has caused some unexpected problems obtaining
U.S. export authorisationInternational Traffic in Arms Regulations is a set of United States government regulations that control the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List...
for some components.
On 15 July 2007, the UK
MODThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
revealed to IT and Science website
The RegisterThe Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
that 54 Watchkeepers will be delivered to the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. The average cost to the taxpayer is therefore £800m divided by 54 aircraft, approximately £15m per platform.
Watchkeeper's first UK flight took place on Wednesday 14 April 2010 from West Wales Airport in Wales.
In October 2010, the contract was extended by a further 18 months, and the delivery date slipped from February 2011 to toward the end of 2011.
External links