Belgium and the United Kingdom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate collaboration and cooperation on their respective MQ-9B programmes.
As the primary customer procuring the MQ-9B, referred to as the Protector RG1 in Royal Air Force (RAF) service, the UK has established the MQ-9B Cooperation MoU to enable cooperation among international governments that have procured a variant of the MQ-9B.
The signing marks the entry of the UK and Belgium as the initial participants in the MoU, allowing for detailed arrangements in areas such as certification, airworthiness, training, sustainment, and future capability enhancements.
The RAF say that the MQ-9B is a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System “that will provide critical surveillance capability. Equipped with a suite of advanced equipment and precision strike weapons, it will be able to deploy against potential adversaries around the globe”.
Additionally, the two countries have established the MQ-9B International Cooperative Programme (MICP). Based on the MoU, the MICP offers processes and functionalities for cooperation in certification, airworthiness, training, sustainment, and capability enhancements.
The MICP Community currently consists of eight nations, with Belgium and the UK taking the lead and six other nations participating as observers. Membership in the MICP is anticipated to increase as several like-minded nations consider procuring the MQ-9B.
Wonder what we get out of this programme? Other than assisting an allied country in their capabilities. Is this going to cost UK tax payers for little to no gain for the UK or armed forces? I’d imagine the answer is yes probably.
You reap what you sow. This is just another in what will be a long list of post Brexit relationship repairs. King Charles first scheduled overseas trips were France and Germany. Now that we are not members of the same club we need to build individual links with European nations. Belgium like ourselves has a North Sea / Channel coastline to police.
I do not see how Brexit comes into this. The E.U. (notoriously and jealously) denies individual members of the bloc to do their own deals. That is why we left amongst many other reasons. As for ‘policing’ our North Sea coastline (sic) with Belgium, I hadn’t noticed any such activity recently.
Back to the article. Why are we doing favours for Belgium, the country that refused to sell us ammunition during the Falklands conflict? Can we rely on them? I fear not.
Per my post to Jacko, the political mood has changed. The UK is in deal making mode. The post Brexit global vision lucrative trade deals with China, India and the US which were going to rescue our economic bacon have all fallen through for various reasons. we need as many friends as we can get – even lowly Belgium, which does wield influence within the EU.
Clearly your political bias is blinding you to such trade deals as Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPATPP).
Get over it, nobody likes a sore loser.
No its not. And I resent the epithet. I voted against but I am happy to put my shoulder to the wheel with everyone else. The Pacific deal you refer to will make little contribution to our prosperity for a long time. A little contrition from the Brexiteers, who clearly did not plan properly would be appreciated!
Well you’re already full of bile and resentment over Brexit so I can’t imagine you have any capacity left for my observation. It’s pretty obvious to everyone who reads your whinges that you voted against Brexit 🥱 No contrition for Brexit, it got us a vaccine ahead of the rest of Europe and a roll-out that left the EU way behind. It saw us giving arms to Ukraine ahead of the invasion while the EU vacillated over a possible joint response. As for CPATPP, you’re no doubt fixated on the flawed 0.08% estimate which assumes exporters don’t take advantage of… Read more »
Judging by the reponses I have provoked I would say I am not the one obsessed by Brexit. Just to clear ( before I sign off and early joy the rest of my Saturday). I view Brexit as a necessary step if the UK is to address its problems which are deeply rooted in our constitution. We had to remove what was essentially the outer layer of our governance machinery before we can expose the internal organs for surgery. People were correct that the country ‘ was not working’ for the people. But its the core of our constitution which… Read more »
No you’re the one obsessed by Brexit, as evidenced by the fact you brought it up in the comments of an article that has NOTHING to do with Brexit. I suspect you probably do the same if people ask you about the football results or if you’ve seen any good movie’s recently.
Well who would have thought it? A trade agreement between countries that don’t want to meddle in other countries politics!quite a novel idea isn’t it?😂
Do you have nothing else in your life?
The small and insignificant number of anti Brexit obsessives link anything and everything to it. You are embarrassing yourselves, nobody cares pal, you are talking to yourselves alone, we have left and we are not going back, move on FFS.
I did before I wrote my post 🙂
This is nothing to do with Brexit, this is simply a knowledge and cost sharing deal for the procurement and operation of protectors and their current and future systems… This could have been done Brexit or no Brexit….
What on earth has a defence agreement and the King going to France and Germany got to do with Brexit? FFS the vote was in 2016 get over it🙄
This is the first time ever that a new monarch has chosen not to visit the Commonwealth as his or her first foreign visit. The penny has finally dropped in the Foreign ( and Commonwealth ) office that it pays to get along with your nearest neighbours.
King Charles hasn’t been crowned yet. Nor has he taken his coronation oaths.
That may not matter for Europe but it matters in the Commonwealth.
Paul wrote:
George VI (the Queens dad) first state visit was to France in 1938 after a visit to India was deemed too expensive for India to fund. His father King George V was the first reigning British monarch to visit India in 300 years and his first state visit was to ireland
I stand corrected. Nonetheless an insight into current gov priorities.
I think you might be reading too much into this. There will have been trips planned for sometime. That said Europe is a priority and the Government are keen normalising relations as are our european friends. New faces make this easier. Commonwealth countries will begin to get used to the idea of having a king in time and I’m sure the majority of countries will have invited him before too long
Could be I’m just echoing the TV commentators. Always a bit risky. Happy Easter.
Whinge, whine, moan, groan.
Not at all. Just pointing out (one of the ) consequences of our decision.
Ah! You mean opportunities.
Of course 🙂
The main opportunity being to take the time to sort ourselves out. Most of the issues people had with the way we are governed were down to the Westminster club culture and over centralisation rather than the EU, which had greater respect for the people in the UK regions than Westminster and Whitehall ever had. The Tories are now running to catch up with ‘levelling up’ agendas and metropolitan mayors ( preferably Tory ones).
I think it’s time for your nappy change.
You have a Happy Easter too! A time of rebirth 🙂
You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. The UK needs to be remade; a new constitutional settlement. This could not happen in the EU.
You adding 2 plus 2 and getting “rhubarb” as your answer 😆
Both the UK and the EU need to change. Its easier to separate.
The EU is doomed, it’ll disintegrate as all supranational empires do. Putin’s invasion has delayed it further – yet another unintended goof like Finland joining NATO – but it’s inevitable. Thankfully the U.K. will be on the sidelines as the EU tears itself apart, hopefully more like Czechoslovakia than Yugoslavia.
All countries need to change, to evolve, as humanity progresses. Hopefully the exposure of corruption at the core of the SNP will sink the lunacy of Scottish independence once and fore all.
Well, agree the EU is a bit lost. Losing the UK will be good for it. I see Poland / Ukraine as the new C of G of the EU. They will see off all this woke @rap together with Italy – provide a bit of backbone. Despite a creditable covid performance Sturgeon was evil and the pus is now coming out of the SNP incestuous abcess. Useless Yousef will last months or even just weeks. J.K. Rowling will eat him and his gender @rap for breakfast. No disrespect to the Scots, they are a proud nation, older in formation… Read more »
Fair post 👍
The EC was workable and liked. It is the Union bit that worries some. I’m not sure it is is any iminent danger but could do with some reforms to reassure everyone. Anyway not our problem we have our own path to tread. People seem to be generally accepting that the past is the past and we need to chart the future. As for Scotland I suspect the real news is that support for independence is evaporating. A lack of income tends to highlight any financial stress.
Agreed, no problem with the EC, it was the transition to the EU and the ultimate goal of a federal union that rang alarm bells.
EU citizens will mistakenly think, after Putin’s invasion, that being members makes them safer (it doesn’t) when in fact it’s NATO that guarantees their freedoms. But eventually they again start to worry about Brussels ever increasing power grabs and the division between public and politicians will emerge again. (Which is why the EU tries to stop nations having referenda anymore.)
Hopefully the collapse of the SNP will kick the independence campaign into the long grass.
Are you struggling to move on? 🙄
Not at all. To quote the bard, what’s done is done and cannot be undone. Just pointing out that a lot of individual work is needed now. We wanted to be our own nation so we have to put in the work.
Then why bring up Brexit in the comments on a story that that has nothing whatsoever to do with Brexit. 🤷🏻♂️
Oddly Paul if you delve beneath the headlines much is happening. People individually are driving their lives forward improving things for themselves and their families despite all the problems that have transpired.
Funny you should mention that. I’ve sensed it too. Family issues that have been stuck for ages starting to inch forward, sort of thing. This mornings press reports the leader of the Scottish conservatives telling voters to put country first and vote Labour to get the SNP out. Let’s hope putting country firsts catches on 🙂
Paul P wrote :
What you mean like Lab and Lib dems have been doing for years:
https://i.postimg.cc/Hn9bgwsv/Opera-Snapshot-2023-04-09-103211-www-dannydorling-org.png
Nice spot Farouk. Proof I suppose that oppositions don’t win elections; governments lose them.
Paul wrote: “”You reap what you sow. This is just another in what will be a long list of post Brexit relationship repairs.”” A little more info on the above Memorandum of Understanding: Belgian-British cooperation With this signature, Belgium and the United Kingdom become the first participants in this agreement and its MICP. This program allows cooperation between partner nations that have acquired the MQ-9B. This cooperation covers all areas of the program, including certification and airworthiness, training, maintenance, logistics support and future capability enhancement. The MICP is made up of eight countries, with Belgium and the United Kingdom… Read more »
Thx for the research. A good illustration of the sort of thing Brexit was intended to achieve; focussed co-operation on individual topics of mutual interest to smaller groups of nations rather than blanket in principle agreement on every topic with every EU member nation, which wasn’t working with an enlarged EU.
It will be interesting to see whether the EU evolves if and when Ukraine joins. Poland and Ukraine will give the block a new cultural direction. The days of post war France and Germany being the ‘EU Locomotive’ are over.
Remember back in the days of the British Empire, they went to war over Belgian neutrality
Belgium buys American f35 contrary to euro offers and this is mutual beneficial cooperation regarding the drone
We might be able to sell Brimstone 3 to Belgium or other products if there was a base to integrate them. Potentially if Russia is the “peer” threat after Ukraine sees them off. , the UK area of NATO operations would be integrated with allies such as Belgium, the Betherlanda, Denmark, so presumably having integrated flights and networking would be in our interests eg monitoring cables , lofted surveillance over the massive of wind turbines that will continue to crowd access the the North Sea and English Channel.
David wrote:
“”We might be able to sell Brimstone 3 to Belgium””
Why bother when they couldn’t defend Fort Eben-Emael (reputably the most powerful and well defended fort in the world) manned by between 1200 and 2000 men from 71 (yes 71) Airborne Combat engineers overnight. because of Belgium’s failure to hold Fort Eben-Emael, the Germans opened the door to the low countries and France. I once had the pleasure to visit a Belgium Army camp in Koln, what a bag of shite.
Its an agreement to share knowledge and best practice and lessons learned. Plus training and joint exercises. Lots of nations do this when operating the same equipment. We have a similar arrangement with Norway and the P8 fleet. Many nations operating the F35 will also have knowledge sharing arrangements.
I should have read your comment first Peter. The rebuff received from Belgium over ammunition during the Falklands was my understanding also. I cannot think why Belgium has received our beneficence; Sweden or Finland. yes, possibly. But Belgium … 1st April is over.
Given that the MQ-9B is the first of its type to be certified for use in European airspace I’d hazard a guess that with 6 other potential partners we are priming the pump for future collaborations. Spookily there are 6 other present European users of the earlier variants, and they will all need replacing at some point. France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands. In addition Poland is buying an unspecified number and Finland is in the assessment / trials stage. And what do we get out of it ? If you cooperate and pool / coordinate the support… Read more »
What we get out of it? With a partner in the EU maybe easier access to that blanket authorisation to fly this new unmanned aircraft type in EU airspace?
Already authorised numbskull.
JIMK wrote: “”What we get out of it? With a partner in the EU maybe easier access to that blanket authorisation to fly this new unmanned aircraft type in EU airspace?”” The remit to allow Military MALE UAVs to fly in civilian airspace is first of all down to the MAA & CAA a safety-first aspect the Uk pioneered with the Plimsol line, they in turn work with the CAA of other countries, SFA to do with winning the rights to fly in EU airspace seeing as those countries have their own UAVs to patrol their airspace, like Belguim for… Read more »
Dear God. Talk about living in the past. Belgium is an ally. Think how acommadating they were providing us with the land for Waterloo,😎
It wasn’t the Falkland’s war, it was actually the first Gulf war as brought up in Parliamentary questions on the 10th of April 2002, I quote: “Security of Supply and Value for Money are the key criteria that underpin the procurement of safe and reliable ammunition. On the matter of the alleged refusal of Belgium to supply ammunition for the Falklands conflict, this incident, in fact, occurred during the Gulf War.” Which was followed by: During the Gulf war, for political reasons, Belgium, an ally and a member of NATO—indeed, it is the home of NATO… Read more »
That episode with the undelivered arty shells was literally 30+ years ago lol… Time to get over it. You Brits sure like living in the past.
What are you on about: The Irish still bump their gums about the British. As do the Spanish (Gibraltar) the Indians (The Raj) , the Yanks(Boston tea party) ,the Chinese (Hong Kong), the Russians (white army) , the French (Mers-el-Kébir, Dunkirk which they feel was all the fault of the BEF , lets not forget Waterloo and of course Agincourt let’s not forget all those people who have never been slaves, but demand a load of cash for hurt feelings. The average man on the street doesn’t give a tosh about the past, but all the freeloaders , those with… Read more »
BOOM.
I fail to see how the ex-Belgian M109s bought for Ukraine was a case of ‘duplicity’. No one misled you here. Agreed that Belgium should have bought back those M109s instead of the UK though but sadly politics got in the way. Regarding the specialized nuclear equipment that was to be sold to the UK, that issue has been resolved and export will now go ahead according to this article (in French) from a few weeks ago: https://fr.businessam.be/vivaldi-faille-exportation-materiel-nucleaire-armee-britannique The issue was our usual Green wankers (i am sure yours arent much better) but they found a way to bypass their… Read more »
👏👏👏
Boom, Daedalus down, Daedalus down, Farouk we have a Deadalus down in the city…..can he respond? Negatory 😂
?
I did respond and addressed everything he said. Its just two posts above yours…
Mate I should have been clearer as I was referring to your post about us “Brits living in the past” and we need to get over it and Farouk gave you a fine example (as normal) of how soooo many others flap their lips about the past, and continue the same rhetoric in regard to history as all countries do! All countries live in the past, it just depends which echo chamber wants to moan about it to suit its agenda! Cheers.
nice one Airborne – well written! Sir👌
It is very sad about Belgium. In 2018, I visited Tyne Cot cemetery located outside Passendale near Zonnebeke in Belgium. The war graves had been cleaned by the CWGC and the Belgians had put on a nice exhibition and display. There were several parties of schoolkids visiting; they were being taught that one reason why we got so involved in WW1 was to defend “plucky little Belgium” in 1914 The British doggedly held this tiny corner of the Ypres Salient despite being under almost continuous fire from three sides throughout most of the war, culminating in the infamous Battle of… Read more »
Perhaps let bygones be bygones Peter, France didn’t exactly help us during the Falklands either, but we work closely with them militarily today. Take a wider view, the UK has to all intents and purposes disarmed over the last 30 years, hollowed out to the point of being in- effective, our ability to carry out unilateral military operations is extremely limited to say the very least thanks to the corrupt political classes on both sides. We can only mobilise genuine military capacity today by being part of NATO. So working closely with a fellow NATO member on Protector is a… Read more »
“The RAF say that the MQ-9B is a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System “that will provide critical surveillance capability. Equipped with a suite of advanced equipment and precision strike weapons, it will be able to deploy against potential adversaries around the globe”.”
Just as long as said adversaries do not have any AD system, the purchase of which, following the success of the Ukrainian’s system in holding the RuAF at bay, will likely have shot up many countries MoD priority list.
The Russian stooge who believes rape and child-trafficking are valid instruments of war is back with his usual pompous idiocy.
Is what I wrote wrong?
>95%* of what you’ve written over the past year is either downright wrong, disingenuous, or just misleading.
*You occasionally mix in some truth either by accident, or in a vain attempt to add credibility to the rest of your propaganda.
Agreed, he does like to throw in a bit of “grey” nonsense when it comes to none Nazi Russian stories, like I have alluded to before, to attempt to gain a little credibility. Alas, he has zero credibility due to his continued support for this illegal invasion and total lack of moral fibre in condemning Putins actions. But as a sad troll, he will be to afraid to do so.
JIMK wrote: “”Just as long as said adversaries do not have any AD system, the purchase of which, following the success of the Ukrainian’s system in holding the RuAF at bay, will likely have shot up many countries MoD priority list.”” I think you will find that most nations which operate advanced and thus expensive HALE and MALE UAVS already know about their limitations which might explains why they (like AWACs) are kept out of harms way and flown at a distance and use much smaller (cheaper and easier to lose and replace) UAVs for close in work which of… Read more »
Crikey, what’s with all the EU Brexit comments here over a defence deal with a fellow NATO Ally? Brexit or not, the UK is and remains a European country and wants to be friends with its neighbours, whether we are in the same “club” or not. You can be friends with a neighbour in a house next door, and not go to the same Gym club or support the same football team. FFS, people need to move on. This is a positive just as the RAF link with Norway regards the P8 is. PS, I voted for and campaigned for… Read more »
Some sore losers just can’t move on and look for any opportunity to bash Brexit. All very childish really 🤷🏻♂️
I agree with you, and whilst I didn’t support Brexit I can accept that the country voted for it and I am not sore about it at all because we need to move on and focus on the future instead of dwelling on a bygone decision that we can’t change.
I wasn’t expecting that !
I’d more expect the Dutch to be a partner for something like that, but perhaps the Belgians are planning to be a NATO focus for this – and working with a further partner outside the JEF may be beneficial for us.
All the vituperative posts about brexit and historical events miss the point. This is a perfectly sensible arrangement between two nato partners who happen to use the same weapon system. And, by the sound of it, it is open to other nato partners who might use it in future.
What is the difference between the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-9B?