The UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) RG Mk1 Protector drone fleet will near 50% of its planned strength by the end of 2024, with the recent arrival and assembly of the second aircraft in the UK due to be followed by a further five airframes in the months ahead.
According to a 22 July release from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), engineers from 31 Squadron RAF completed the build and initial testing of this second aircraft, prior to further test and evaluation over the coming months.
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The RAF, working with Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), expect five more aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2024 as Protector prepares to establish aircrew and technician training in the UK this year and take over operations from the MQ-9A Reaper fleet in 2025.
The RG Mk1 Protector drones are UK variants of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian remote piloted aircraft system (RPAS), developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), which also produces the MQ-9A Reaper, and earlier Predator RPAS.
Rather than being flown over from the GA-ASI manufacturing sites in the US under their own power, the Protector drones are transported to the UK before being assembled.
The UK is investing in 16 Protector RG Mk1 for the RAF; the first eight will enable an Initial Operating Capability scheduled for 2025 at RAF Waddington.
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By GlobalDataUK total Protector fleet to reach double figures in 2024
The MoD stated that the delivery of this aircraft completes a busy period for the programme, with initial flight-testing using aircraft one conducted in November 2023.
Initial training is taking place at GA-ASI’s facilities in the US, utilising three other RAF-owned RPAS, where a Protector Technician Course began in February 2024, and the first Protector crews graduated from Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) in April the same year.
Holloman Air Force Base, situated in the US state of New Mexico, is a known international MQ-9 training hub.
Training will transition to the UK later this year utilising the first phase of infrastructure work recently completed at RAF Waddington, the home of Protector drone fleet in the UK. An international MQ-9B symposium was hosted by the RAF at RAF Cranwell in April this year.
Simon Holford, Uncrewed Air Systems Delivery Team Leader at DE&S, said: “Together with the three aircraft we have already taken delivery of in the US (which remain in the US for use in trials and/or training), we have now taken delivery of five of the 16 aircraft we have ordered.”
Equipped with a suite of advanced equipment and precision strike weapons, Protector will provide an armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. A crucial difference for the type is its ability to fly in unsegregated airspace thanks to ‘detect and avoid’ technology with a potential endurance of more than 30 hours,
The Protector programme also includes expansion of 54 Squadron capability and new infrastructure at RAF Waddington such as a training centre for UK and international students.
UK tends to secrecy for its drone operations
The use of the RAF’s MQ-9B, and the new RG Mk1 Protector, drones are a closely guarded secret, with little-to-no public acknowledgement of their use, in either role or location. It is probably that the current MQ-9B fleet operate from the UK, as well as overseas bases in the Middle East, such as in the UAE, Qatar, or Oman.
However, such is the ‘remote’ nature of the aircraft that they can be operating in a different country to the controllers, with multiple ‘crews’ switching in and taking over operations during a long-endurance mission.
Reported in October 2023, the programme’s budget increased from the 2016 Main Gate Business Case, which approved a whole-life cost of £1.24bn ($1.6bn) – albeit with a “50% confidence” – according to official UK Government responses.
By March 2023, the whole-lift cost projection exceeded £1.76bn, comprised of a £325m difference in acquisition costs and around £190m in through-life costs.
