According to Defense Minister John Healy, the British armed forces are planning to withdraw their Watchkeeper Mk.1 drones from service. The decision is said to be part of a comprehensive cost-cutting program that aims to save around 600 million euros.
The retirement of the still relatively new drone type comes as a surprise: the Watchkeeper drones only reached full operational readiness in 2018, and production ran until 2021. Nevertheless, technical problems and massive cost overruns during both development and operation meant that the platform was increasingly seen as a liability. https://militaeraktuell.at/systematic-bundesheer-battle-management-system/ “The modern army needs flexible, reliable UAVs that can operate in challenging conditions. Decommissioning the Watchkeeper Mk.1 allows us to move quickly to more advanced solutions based on operational experience,” explained Healy. The Watchkeeper Mk.1 is based on the Israeli Hermes 450 from Elbit Systemsbut was further developed by Thales UK. Despite high expectations, the model failed to deliver the desired performance. Regardless of this, the Romanian armed forces only opted for the Watchkeeper X variant in 2022 and ordered three systems worth almost 180 million euros.
Further cost savings affect the air force and the Royal Navy: there are plans to decommission 17 Royal Air Force Puma helicopters and 14 Chinooks. The two amphibious assault ships “HMS Albion” and “HMS Bulwark” and the Type 23 frigate “HMS Northumberland” are also likely to be decommissioned.
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