http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #359 FEBRUARY 2018 // 97
Left: An MQ-9 Reaper lands at Kandahar
in 2011. Procured under an urgent
operational requirement for the war in
Afghanistan, the Reaper pioneered the use
of drones in RAF service and has since
played a major role fighting IS terrorists in
Syria and Iraq. On December 4, 2017, the
Reaper Force reached the milestone of
100,000 flying hours in support of coalition
combat operations. Crown Copyright
Bottom: The RAF’s Protector variant of
the MQ-9B Sky Guardian system will be
fully weaponised. Options will include the
MBDA Brimstone 2, here carried on an
MQ-9 Reaper. The missile was fired from
the current Reaper variant in 2014. MBDAthe RAF has greater autonomy to modify
the Protector, than it currently has with
Reapers. “With minor exceptions, after
full certification, the UK will have design
authority for its Protectors,” he said.
Alexander revealed that the UK Protectors
will be the first frontline RPAS to be fitted
with a SATCOM-linked automatic take-off
and landing system, which will transform the
operational flexibility of the RAF fleet. The
technology will be tested in early 2018 after
YBC02 (the second prototype air vehicle)
makes its maiden flight. “YBC02 will be a
sea change,” Alexander explained. “You can
pre-flight with a tablet [computer] and then
hand off to a ground control station [GCS –
located elsewhere] over SATCOM. It’s a huge
game changer. You no longer need a pilot
in the GCS [by the runway]. This reduces
the forward deployed portion. You can taxi
through SATCOM, hit the button and it will
take off automatically. All of it is done through
SATCOM, anywhere in the world. I can’t stress
how forward leaning the UK is in this area.”
Current Predator and Reaper systems
require a GCS, supported by line-of-
sight datalinks mounted on towers, before
a launch-and-recovery site can be set
up. These are manpower intensive and
need to be pre-positioned at designated
airfields to allow RPASs to land or take-
off. Alexander estimates that the SATCOM-
based automatic take-off and landing
could reduce the personnel requirements
to support a Protector system by up to a
half, increasing operational flexibility and
reducing requirements to train pilots. This
could increase the practical range of the
system, allowing the use of austere bases to
refuel air vehicles or divert them if technical
problems emerge during missions. “You
can divert to airfields without [GCS control]
towers,” he said. “We didn’t have the
answer for the divert airfields issue before.”
He reported that component manufacture
for the initial production standard Protector
air vehicles, BC03 and BC04, was already
under way, with the first air vehicle expected
to fly in late 2018 or early 2019. Alexander
said the Protector programme involves what
he called a “hybrid” acquisition process,
with the development and certification work
part being transacted between the company
and the UK MOD and the procurement
of the hardware being run via the US
Department of Defense’s Foreign Military
Sales process, because of technology
export rules. The Protector is not in US
service. Alexander described this situation
as “unique... We will make it work.”Future RAF plans
With the flight trials process gaining
momentum in the US, the RAF is already
looking to smooth the Protector’s entry into
service. The UK Defence Infrastructure
Organisation has unveiled plans to begin
building new Protector accommodation at
RAF Waddington. General Atomics and
its UK partner, Cobham, are developing
in-service support and training options
at the UK Protector main operating
base. The first Protectors are expected
to arrive in the UK soon after 2020.
The RAF expects that 500 personnel,
consisting of frontline crews, engineer and
logistic support, off-board intelligence and
operations and administrative staff, will be
required to support two frontline Protector
squadrons and a conversion unit.
While the technical challenges of
bringing a new type of RPAS into service
are immense in themselves, the new
capabilities of the Protector will requirethe RAF to look again at how it exploits
the system. The biggest difference will
be that Protector is able to operate from
a home base in the UK, supporting both
training and real-world missions by land,
air and naval forces. For the first time,
the RAF will have a frontline system that
can fly over the UK and out over the North
Sea, English Channel and into the North
Atlantic with an endurance of up to 40
hours. Protector could also potentially
monitor the Baltic Sea from Waddington.
When the range and SATCOM-based
automatic take-off and landing capability are
brought together, the operational flexibility of
the Protector will surpass that of the current
Reaper by several orders of magnitude. It
could, for instance, fly from the UK to North
Africa, be landed on a remote airstrip to
be topped up with locally-supplied fuel
before heading off on its mission. This
type of mission profile would involve only
a handful of people having to deploy to a
forward launch and recovery element.
The RAF hopes that Protector will transform
the UK’s ability to perform persistent
surveillance and strike, while General Atomics
expects the product and its downstream
derivatives to bring a leap in capability to
the global UAV market. Sky Guardian and
its variant, Protector, are not improved
Reapers but a new product that will give
customers significantly greater potential.AFM