The UK Royal Air Force is to establish a formal UAV operations squadron as the home for its two General Atomics MQ-9 Predator B aircraft.
Approvals for the new squadron have recently been given within UK Ministry of Defence, says Wg Cdr Andrew Jeffrey, director of air staff – UAV operations.
Speaking at the IQPC UCAV 2006 conference in London on 28 November, he said the RAF MQ-9 acquisition process, estimated at $77 million, is expected to result in an initial capability from third quarter 2007.
General Atomics has already begun work on the two aircraft ahead of contract signature, as the UK wants the first aircraft available from May to support training and mobilisation. The UAVs will be delivered direct from the USA into Iraq.
The UAVs “will be fitted for, but not with, weapons” Jeffrey said, with the UK still evolving its operational concepts for future strike operations. However, RAF and MoD planning is being influenced by ongoing co-operation with the US Air Force: “If you look at the way the USAF are standing up their Predator B unit, which is the 42nd attack squadron, they are looking at using this pretty much in a close air support role from the outset. They don’t regard it as an ISTAR platform.”
Jeffrey said the two aircraft and single ground control station would be supported by eight to nine qualified crews and provide “not quite 24h operations”.
The new squadron will be structured as two flights, with B flight operating the MQ-9. The A flight will comprise the existing RAF detachment forming part of the UK-USAF Joint Predator Task Force located at Nellis AFB in Nevada and jointly operating USAF-owned Predator A aircraft deployed into Afghanistan and Iraq.
Future expansion of the MQ-9 fleet is being factored into UK MoD planning, Jeffrey said. “We would like more air vehicles.”
Consideration is also being given to the potential operational deployment of the RAF’s Raptor long-range optical sensor system, based around the Goodrich DB-110, aboard the MQ-9 to meet emerging UK wide area surveillance requirements.
“Let us think about the future. If we are really clever about this and the battlespace allows it, we could have the Raptor pod or the DB-110 doing one task, perhaps for a strategic customer, while the EO/IR ball on the front [of the MQ-9] is doing another task for a more tactical customer. The platform could also cross-cue itself.”
The UK tested Raptor operation aboard a General Atomics-owned trials MQ-9 in 2005 as part of the former Joint UAV Experimentation (JUEP) initiative.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
