Thales Watchkeeper WK450

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Thales Watchkeeper WK450
First UK flight of Watchkeeper UAV MOD 45151422.jpg
First flight of the Watchkeeper in Great Britain
Type: Reconnaissance drone
Manufacturer:

Thales

First flight:

April 16, 2008

The Watchkeeper 450 is an unmanned reconnaissance drone for the British armed forces .

history

The £ 800 million program, launched in July 2005, was awarded to Thales UK as prime contractor. The missile is based on the Israeli Elbit Hermes 450 drone and is equipped with optical sensors, a radar operating in the Ku-band and an automatic take-off and landing system. The British Army has ordered 54 missiles and 15 ground stations.

The first flight of the drone took place on April 16, 2008 in Megiddo , Israel. The first flight in Great Britain (at Aberporth in Wales ) took place on April 14, 2010. The ready-to-use devices with the necessary ground equipment were to be delivered to the British Army by the end of 2010, but the delivery date was initially postponed to February and later to the end of 2011. Later on, Watchkeeper was to be delivered to Afghanistan in the first quarter of 2012 and in increasing numbers throughout the rest of 2012. In March 2012, the minister responsible, Peter Luff , told the British Parliament that extradition would be delayed as the license for civil aviation was still pending. He deliberately refrained from specifying a date as it would only be speculation. The Ministry of Defense announced in February that it would still use Watchkeeper in Afghanistan in 2012, but this was not implemented due to technical problems.

The UK originally planned to replace the previously used Lydian UAV with Watchkeeper in 2011. In the meantime, France has also expressed interest in the drone in order to be able to replace its unmanned Sagem Sperwer . An evaluation on this began in October 2012 and should be completed in 2013.

The Watchkeeper was finally deployed in Afghanistan in September 2014. Still unarmed, she was used for surveillance and target recognition and completed about 140 flights.

In January 2016 it was announced that Thales, in cooperation with the Polish electronics company WB Electronics, had further developed the Watchkeeper as part of the Polish armaments program Gryf . The drone was equipped with an I-Master SAR radar and other optronics from Thales for the visible and IR range, as well as a laser illuminator. In addition, the possibility of equipping a FreeFall Lightweight Multirole Missile (FFLMM) with a 2 kg warhead and laser and GPS control was developed.

technology

The drone is powered by a Wankel engine with 38 kW power, which drives a two-bladed propeller. The specified payload is 150 kg.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
length 6.1 m
span 10.51 m
Takeoff mass 450 kg
Top speed 175 km / h
Altitude 5500 m
Duration of use up to 20 hours

Web links

Commons : Thales Watchkeeper WK450  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FlugRevue July 2008, p. 14, Watchkeeper flies
  2. ↑ a b Thales: WATCHKEEPER makes first UK flight ( Memento from April 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ aviationweek.com: Watchkeeper Gets New Delivery Date , February 28, 2011, accessed on August 28, 2011
  4. ↑ thinkdefence.co.uk: Parliamentary Answers ( Memento of November 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) , November 11, 2011, accessed January 2, 2012
  5. ↑ publications.parliament.uk: House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 20 Mar 2012 , accessed April 8, 2012
  6. ↑ a b flightglobal.com: British Army set for operational trials with Watchkeeper UAS , February 20, 2012, accessed April 8, 2012
  7. ↑ Thales Covers ISTAR Tab Amid Watchkeeper Wait. defensenews.com, December 10, 2012, accessed May 14, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Authorities Spiegel: UAV of the British armed forces  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.behoerden-spiegel.de  
  9. ^ France evaluates Watchkeeper UAV. upi.com, November 12, 2012, accessed May 14, 2013 .
  10. ↑ a b Armed watchkeeper on offer for Poland . In: European Security & Technology . P. 76.
  11. ↑ data sheet at Army Technology (English)
  12. ↑ Technical data at Army Technology (English) ( Memento of 5 November 2010 at the Internet Archive )