The UK's ability to perform battlefield surveillance tasks has been boosted through the recent delivery of an interim tactical unmanned air vehicle service and a successful deployment involving ground elements of its airborne stand-off radar system.
Flown since 20 June under an urgent operational requirement deal between the UK Ministry of Defence and Thales UK/Elbit Systems joint venture U-Tacs, Elbit Hermes 450 UAVs are now delivering electro-optical/infrared imagery to support British personnel in southern Iraq, says Thales.
The company declines to reveal how many of the 450kg (990lb) air vehicles and ground control stations have been supplied, but says its service contract calls for the provision of between 14 and 24 flight hours per day. The system is being operated by personnel from the British Army's 32 Regt Royal Artillery, with support from U-Tacs employees, says Thales, which adds that further equipment will follow "in several tranches". The Hermes 450 service will potentially run until the availability of the UK's future Watchkeeper UAV system, which U-Tacs will deliver for operations from 2010.
The UK Royal Air Force's 5(AC) Sqn, meanwhile, completed a trial deployment during September of a tactical ground station element for the ASTOR system, with the equipment having been flown to L-3 Communications' Greenville site in Texas using a Boeing C-17 transport. "The programme is shifting emphasis from rehearsal into deployment," says Raytheon Systems ASTOR deputy programme manager Rob Crook, who adds: "Testing is being pulled by the deployment imperative." This could see ASTOR ground stations deployed to a theatre of operations prior to the availability of the Sentinel R1 aircraft, where it could receive intelligence from other UK coalition and coalition assets, he adds.
Raytheon Systems intends to deliver the remaining four Sentinel R1 airframes in the fourth quarter of this year, says Crook. The RAF's first Sentinel R1 has flown 85 times and amassed more than 260 flight hours since its delivery last March, according to RSL. The company also expects a Sentinel aircraft and ground station to participate in November's Dubai air show.
Source: Flight International
