July 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By Tony Osborne
LONDON—Britain is planning to retire its General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft systems in 2024 as the Royal Air Force transitions to its new Protector platform.
Although Royal Air Force (RAF) officers have not detailed when the first of the new Protector aircraft will arrive, there will be a transition as crews retrain from Reaper onto Protector, with the Reaper complementing the Protector on operations, Wing Commander Judith Graham, the RAF's Protector Program Manager, told Aerospace DAILY at the Royal International Air Tattoo earlier this month.
“Reaper is an extraordinarily valuable capability for the UK government, so we don't want there to be a capability gap,” Graham said.
The plan for avoiding a capability gap between Reaper and Protector suggests that a significant number of Protectors will have entered service by the time the Reaper is retired.
The UK currently has 10 MQ-9 Reapers that it purchased as an urgent operational requirement for operations in Afghanistan. Today, they operate over Iraq and Syria, but none are destined for use in UK airspace.
Work also is underway to select the site for a new facility at RAF Waddington, UK, from which the Protector fleet and the UK's new E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft will be operated. Graham said the facility needs “to be ready for Protector by the end of 2021,” suggesting that first Protector deliveries could take place in 2022. Britain plans to centralize its Protector operations from Waddington, resulting in the UK presence at Creech AFB, Nevada being scaled down.
Because of the Protector's ability to self-deploy and perform autonomous landing and take-off, there also is a significantly reduced need for forward-based personnel to land the aircraft at forward-operating locations, further reducing the personnel burden.
The UK currently is planning to buy 16 Protectors, a derivative of General Atomics' self-developed, certifiable SkyGuardian platform, which has been redesigned to pave the way for it to meet military airworthiness requirements. As a result, the aircraft now features an all-weather capability with an electro-expulsive de-icing system that blows the ice off the leading edges of the wings and Y-stabilizers. General Atomics also has increased the fatigue life and damage tolerance of the aircraft and produced flight-critical software certifiable to the DO-178 standard.
British Protectors will be armed with the Raytheon Paveway IV laser-guided-bomb and MBDA Brimstone air-to-ground missile. There also are plans to fit it with Leonardo's Sage Electronic Support Measures system. The aircraft will also be equipped with General Atomics' Lynx synthetic aperture radar, but there are studies to look at installing a larger radar, such as Leonardo's Seaspray surface-search radar. Work on the integration of such a radar, which could allow the Protector to support the UK's new P-8 Poseidon in the maritime patrol role, is being scoped but is not yet funded.
RAF officers are working alongside General Atomics at its San Diego, California, facility as part of a combined test team to pave the way for the platform's certification by the UK Military Aviation Authority, which the RAF hopes will allow the aircraft to fly in non-segregated airspace for training and support to national authorities. They are hoping to do this even without the immediate installation of General Atomics internally developed sense-and-avoid radar.
The RAF's Protectors will be compatible, but not immediately equipped, with the active electronically scanned array radar, but Graham said work was underway with the UK's newly renamed Strategic Command (formerly Joint Forces Command) to understand the requirement for the radar, and test and evaluation work was underway.
Officials state that the radar likely will be introduced as part of the full operational capability for the platform.
The UK also will use the General Atomics Advanced Cockpit ground control station, which uses a similar flight management system to the Beechcraft King Air 350. Under current plans, the British Protectors will be flown by a crew of three—a pilot, a sensor operator and a mission intelligence coordinator. Rather than flying the aircraft from inside transportable containers, the seven ground control stations will occupy a permanent building with room for expansion. There also will be scope to add an additional mission specialist, should a particular mission require it, officials say.
https://aviationweek.com/defense/raf-retiring-reaper-2024-paving-way-protector
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By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Lyle Wilkie, USS New York LPD 21 Public Affairs ATLANTIC OCEAN -- The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) completed a live-fire exercise in which the ship fired missiles at a drone using the ship's self-defense Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system Saturday, Aug. 3 (NNS) -- The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) completed a live-fire exercise in which the ship fired missiles at a drone using the ship's self-defense Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system Saturday, Aug. 3. The live-fire exercise is in preparation for the New York's upcoming deployment with the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. The Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), also part of the amphibious ready group, conducted a live-fire exercise Saturday as well. “We are doing this exercise to verify full operation of our kill chain for our RAM system,” said USS New York Fire Controlman Chief Christopher Campbell. “The weekly overall combat system operability tests and RAM's daily system tests assess every part of the kill chain except the actual launch of the missile. This is our opportunity to ensure that the missile will launch prior to deployment.” In order to prepare for an exercise of this magnitude it takes a great deal of preparation. “Preparation for this exercise started a month or longer before we even loaded the missiles,” said Fire Controlman 2nd Class Austin Jones. “We had to ensure each missile cell received the proper signals to fire missiles and make sure the launcher was in overall good condition before receiving and firing missiles. All the fire controlmen have accomplished more than 150 man hours of maintenance in preparation for this shoot. The exercise was a way to show how effective training in the combat systems department has been and how prepared the New York is to use the RAM system on board.” The fire controlman aboard was not the only one involved in this exercise. “All combat watch standers, bridge watch teams and many other people were involved in this exercise,” said Jones. “Each person has a specific role from safeties to launching the missile to coordinating procedures in case of a dud, or misfire.” This exercise is the last event for the Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise where the New York, alongside the Oak Hill and flagship Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), have been tested in many avenues of war fighting. “This is a culminating event where watch standers and systems can be rigorously tested to prove their capability and effectiveness while also utilizing state of the art data extraction systems to continue our pursuit for perfection,” said Lt. j.g. Joshua Sexton, Fire Control Officer aboard New York. “This is proof of not only capability and effectiveness but also confidence in both the system and, most importantly, the watch standers' ability to stay in the fight.” Warships assigned to the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, including New York, are participating in the SWATT, in the Atlantic Ocean, to maintain readiness, proficiency, and lethality. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110462