Thales wins $107 mn contract to support British Army's Watchkeeper UAVs.

The award of this contract will sustain around 160 high-quality engineering jobs at locations across the UK including Crawley, Leicester, Bristol and Boscombe Down. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: “This $107million agreement ensures the British Army’s Watchkeeper system will provide UK troops with next generation battlefield intelligence for years to come. Sustained support for Watchkeeper is a key part of the UK Government’s 10-year $238 billion equipment plan to provide our Armed Forces with the kit they need now and into the future.”

Building on the previous initial support contract, Thales and the UK Ministry of Defence have worked together to provide a value for money solution that will meet the needs of the UK Armed Forces and ensures it has the serviceable equipment and training solution in place to generate increased capacity for operations over the coming years.

Watchkeeper is the first operationally proven Unmanned Aircraft System developed and built in the UK, providing real-time, enhanced situational awareness for troops on the ground, making significant contributions to reducing risk and loss of life. Thales in the UK is the Prime Contractor and Design Authority for the Watchkeeper Tactical Unmanned Air System (UAS), which is the largest UAS contract in Europe.

In February 2014, Watchkeeper was awarded a full Release To Service (RTS), following rigorous safety and airworthiness reviews to ensure the system can be operated safely by the British Army. Watchkeeper was introduced into service in August 2014 and deployed to Afghanistan. The system is currently being operated on a near daily basis from Aberporth for flight trials and in Ascension in support of Army flying training. Watchkeeper is also the first Unmanned Aircraft, in UK aviation history, to fly alongside manned aircraft in controlled civilian airspace. The first flight took place on Wednesday 30 September 2015.