Prince Harry made use of imagery from Hermes 450 unmanned air vehicles as he carried out duties as a forward air controller during his recent highly publicised stint on the Afghan front line.
The revelation came at Farnborough as Nick Miller, Thales European group’s business director for UAV systems, described the currently operational Hermes 450 and in-development Watchkeeper programmes for the British armed forces.
“Hermes 450 is a staggering capability that is saving lives and winning battles in two theatres,” he says. “This UAV-based intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance service was rapidly deployed and has flown more than 10,000 hours in just 12 months.”
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Valued at £700 million, Watchkeeper is Europe’s biggest UAV programme. Describing it as “30 per cent air vehicle, 70 per cent ground infrastructure”, Miller says Watchkeeper is on schedule for entry into service in 2010. This follows a first flight by the air vehicle, which is based on the Israeli-developed Hermes 450, in April this year.
The British Army acquired its existing Hermes 450 capability in an urgent operational requirement (UOR) programme that saw the system enter the front line a year ago. According to a British commander: “It represents a step change in capability and is significantly increasing the intelligence available. Our forces now routinely request UAV overflight cover.”
In Afghanistan and Iraq, Hermes 450 operates typically for 14 hours or more over a radius of 150km. Imagery from its electro-optical/infra-red payload is put to a wide range of uses, including suspect vehicle tracking, surveillance of enemy mortars and rocket launchers and direction of counter-fire, battle damage assessment. It also carries a laser marker that is used for target designation and to indicate to ground forces the best entry point when a building is to be stormed.
With its ability to network extensively with other ground and air assets and the addition of synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication capability, Watchkeeper will represent a significant advance on Hermes 450.
Source: Flight International
