Thales Watchkeeper WK450
| Watchkeeper WK450 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Flight trials at Parc Aberporth in 2013 | |
| Role | Unmanned aerial vehicle |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Thales Group |
| First flight | 14 April 2010 |
| Introduction | August 2014 |
| Status | In limited service |
| Primary user | British Army |
| Developed from | Elbit Hermes 450 |
The Thales Watchkeeper WK450 is a Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) for all weather, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) use by the British Army. It is provided under an £800 million contract from Elbit and Thales UK and is based on Elbit's Hermes 450.
The Watchkeeper WK450 is based on the Elbit Hermes 450 UAV and is built in the UK by a joint venture company, UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS), set up by the Israeli company Elbit Systems (51% ownership) and the Thales group. It has a mass of 450 kg, a typical endurance of 17 hours, a payload capacity of 150 kg and uses a rotary Wankel engine provided by UAV Engines Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems. It can operate up to 150 km from the Ground Control Station (although multiple stations can be linked to extend the range). It was originally intended to enter service in June 2010, but years of delays, technical issues, hardware modifications, difficulties in training sufficient pilots and incidents means that it is not expected to be fully operational until late 2017.
A prime difference between the Hermes 450 and Watchkeeper is that the 450 is fitted only with an electro-optical/infrared sensor, while the WK450 has in addition a dual-mode synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indication system that allows it to see through all weather conditions. The British Army will receive 30 Watchkeepers and a further 24 machines due to go into store to be pulled into service as needed.
On 15 July 2007, the UK MoD revealed that 54 Watchkeepers will be delivered to the British Army. The average cost to the taxpayer is therefore £800m divided by 54 aircraft, approximately £15m per platform. However, this figure includes construction of new basing facilities at Boscombe Down airfield, ground training facilities and simulators at the School of Artillery, ground control stations, development and testing of extensive aircraft modifications including automatic take-off and landing and the integration and provision of new sensors including radars.
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