The UK has announced the retirement of its Watchkeeper Mk 1 drones by March 2025 as part of a broader effort to modernise the Armed Forces and adapt to evolving threats.
The decision, unveiled by Defence Secretary John Healey, reflects the rapid pace of technological advancements in unmanned aerial systems and lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.
Healey outlined the rationale for retiring the Watchkeeper system, stating: “A modern army must self-evidently have a modern drone capability able to operate in the most challenging environments. Following the retirement of Watchkeeper Mk 1, the Army will rapidly switch to a new advanced capability, drawing on the most recent operational lessons and technological developments.”
Introduced in 2010, the Watchkeeper programme faced significant delays and cost overruns, becoming a symbol of the challenges in fielding new technology. Despite its potential to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, the system often struggled to meet operational requirements.
The decommissioning of the Watchkeeper is part of a broader initiative to retire outdated equipment across the UK Armed Forces, a move set to save up to £500 million over five years. These savings will be reinvested into defence, with Healey emphasising: “We face increasing global threats—war in Europe, growing Russian aggression, and technology changing the nature of warfare. Defence needs increased resilience and readiness for the future.”
The Army is expected to replace the Watchkeeper with a more advanced drone system that can operate effectively in contested environments. Healey noted: “These decisions deliver better value for money and ensure we are in a better position to modernise and strengthen UK defence.”
While Watchkeeper’s retirement signifies the end of a troubled chapter in UK defence procurement, it opens the door for next-generation technologies to enhance the British Army’s operational effectiveness.
At the UK Defence Journal, we aim to deliver accurate and timely news on defence matters. We rely on the support of readers like you to maintain our independence and high-quality journalism. Please consider making a one-off donation to help us continue our work. Click here to donate. Thank you for your support!
Also to be decommissioned:
Amphibious assault ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark
Type 23 frigate, HMS Northumberland,
Tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler
Fourteen CH-47 Chinook helicopters
Seventeen Puma helicopters
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k0292v0w1o
Will we have anything left ? It’s just astonishing how our military has been dismantled in the last 30 years.
To be fair a further batch of 14 chinook are on order and a Puma replacement is planned (re. e the bbc piece you posted) As for the rest, no great surprises. Many folk on this site called it re Albion and Bulwark . Watch this space, more to come in 2025 .
Massive cuts as planned, Britain is on its way to becoming a middle power and in some aspects irrelevant. Add the storage of an aircraft carrier to the list.
Reality is the frigate is broken, the amphibious ships don’t have crews and are really unlikely to be used, the wave tankers haven’t sailed for ages and don’t have crews.
The watch keeper is old and has been a massive failure.
The 14 chinooks are 30+ years old and the RAF has loads of them. The pumas should have went decades ago.
The amphibious ships is a tricky one and perhaps reserve would be better.
LPDs don’t have crews? So spend money and crew them.
Ditto Waves.
Perhaps HMG think Drones can replace a several thousands tonnes strategic asset that refuels other vessels. 🙄
Watchkeeper. Just updated with GTMI. Last GTMI was Sentinel and they binned that too. Where is the replacement? Do you know what 47RA used to have before Watchkeeper?
Puma and Chinooks. Where are the replacements? So the fact the RAF has lots of Chinook makes it Ok?
No, at best these are capability and numbers gaps, IF the new builds arrive and IF FMH is still on.
That is Labour at its best. They scrapped the RN,s carrier fleet in the 60,s/70,s. Gave up east of suez bases pretty much turned the RN into a anti submarine force. Blair and Brown took us into 2 wars robbing this country of its treasure and hundreds of British lives while at the same time cutting the forces. Tories definitely not much better and now this crowd. We were short of chinooks when I was in Afghanistan now we are scrapping 14 and 17 pumas without replacement. That’s another 23 gone without replacement and now 2 amphibious ships without replacement. Labours idea of defense of the realm is to make it defenceless
14 new Chinooks already ordered. AW149 about to be ordered to replace the Puma and Dauphin.
And while we’re waiting for them to be built more capability “holidays”
About to be ordered isn’t actually ordered and on their way is it? Says it all when everybody else pulled out of the bidding doesn’t it!
Sentinel.
Watchkeeper.
Defender.
Islander.
Hercules
Nimrod.
Harrier.
Tornado.
Hawk.
All the CVRT family bar Stormer.
AS90.
All cut without a replacement in place leaving a capability gap to save money, or binned entirely without replacement.
AW149 to be ordered. Is FMH safe? How many?
It’s so easy to bin an asset.
and the Tories achieved what?
Fewer cuts than Blair and Brown Also you should perhaps note that all the orders currently in the pipeline are all from the Tory government. Were they as good as we would have liked.? No. Will labour be better? NO.
Yep, a good appraisal. Like I always say, so many with rose tinted glasses now rushing frantically to find any excuse or justification.
Do you know what 47 RA operated before Labour spaffed 1 billion plus on Watchkeeper?
Stormer with Starstreak HVM.
GBAD we are so desperately short of now, which they cut with glee.
It’s still happening.
These platforms had already effectively been cut, so a bit early to blame Labour. The question is what happens next and that we will have to wait to next years SDSR. The key is to remember these cuts and not let early announcement mean that what happens with the review doesn’t include these cuts.
Northumberland yes.
Not the other ships for me. How about Labour do something REALLY REVOLUTIONARY and find money for more crews for them?
Instead, MoD budget is going on drones, AUKUS, GCAP, nukes, and the chiefs in unison chorus in support of their master, we must do things differently and look to the future.
Yes….A future with even fewer assets than before as apparently ships no longer need assets like tankers to refuel them and soldiers can flap their arms and flipping fly rather than hope a medium weight heli will turn up.
Ive not been a fan of what Watchkeeper turned out like…and Im actually happy to see them gone!
We had better options and we wasted ££ on a drone thats had little use, but many problems
As for the rest being scrapped… well we need replacements ASAP, which as we all know a sense of urgency is nowhere to be seen!
I wonder what shape the replacements will take – a swarm of recon drones, be interesting to see.
Watchkeeper felt like a decade old tech when it first came out and has had countless issues, should have been dumped a long time ago.
Are you aware that Watchkeeper replaced a Regiments
worth of Stormer HVM?
Which the army and all of defence is currently running around in circles about as GBAD is in short supply?
Well well. Wonders never cease.
Watchkeeper is for asymmetrical warfare not peer warfare. However if we ever had to fight an asymmetrical war they would be in their element. Can we be certain we’d only ever fight a peer from now on, what if we needed to keep watch on ISIS or similar? If the answer is we will have protector then the question is why did we ever order Watchkeeper (Hermes 450) in the first place, that’s a billion down the drain.
There is nothing comparable at the moment to Watchkeeper and its radar.
It is a capability that is lost.
Maybe it is a a correct decision and money for its operation can be put to in a better place in the future but at moment it is a loss of capability.
Exactly this, it had just got an update with GTMI radar.
That was 2 billon pissed against the wall then…
Heard it elsewhere, a carrier pigeon with a GoPro strapped to it would be more capable …
It made me laugh anyway…
For the love of God, OFF THE BLOODY SHELF REPLACEMENT PLEASE!!!!!
geez John that’s really funny- made my day!
That was 2 billon pissed against the wall then…
Heard it elsewhere, a carrier pigeon with a GoPro strapped to it would be more capable …
It made me laugh anyway…
For the love of God, OFF THE BLOODY SHELF REPLACEMENT PLEASE!!!!!
Your welcome mate!
Not a chance mate, Labour will prioritise the MIC
and make sure their noses are fully in the trough.
We can hope.
The timing could not be better! This news is a net loss of assets regardless of replacements. However, Mr Putin might delay things in the coming weeks and months?
Apparently Watchkeeper had just been updated with GTMI Radar.
Just like Sentinel, discarded.
Is this yet another capability gap? How many years before the replacement.
It is another capability gap.
I think the radar was already there, maybe an upgrade?
Would they buy a SAR radar pod for the Typhoon? don’t seem very wise to use flight hours for that.
We were only discussing this particular slow motion car crash the other week mate…
I’m hoping for a nice simple off the shelf solution, I suspect of something cheaper and less capable, with a tasked Protector for the more demanding missions…
“the Army will rapidly switch to a new advanced capability”
What is “rapidly” ?
Depends how slow you perseve time really, blink of an eye for an oak tree….
Good riddance. A Sopwith Strutter with the guy in the back holding a camera would have been cheaper and more effective.
So would have been a Regiment of Stormer HVM, which Labour cut to buy Watchkeeper…..
CUT CUT CUT is all we will see over the next 5 years and the Armed Forces are already way below being effective. Everyone else in Europe are investing in expanding their Military whilst ours continues to decline. I for one am ashamed of what our ‘Leaders’ are doing. May as well give it all up and spend the funds on the weird and wonderful the State seems to cherish over the greater population. SAD TIMES
Our so called government all want putting behind bars destroying our armed forces there are more illegals than service men.
The lunatics are in charge
Not a surprise really. I suspect we’ll see this capability replaced with a bigger fleet of something like the Tekever AR3, especially seeing as they’ve just set up a UK manufacturing site.
I thought we were having a defence review before making any decisions???
They’re doing the usual British government thing of removing capability and resources without their replacement in place then a year or two down the road they’ll cancel the replacement or it won’t arrive
The Ukraine War has like many other wars advanced certain technologies so rapidly many older drone programs are either now obsolete or pointlessly expensive. The iterative nature of warfare has seen drone technologies in combat advance so rapidly Watchkeeper is pointless. A handful of these drones in a program costing billions isn’t half as useful as equipping hundreds of units with hundreds of cheaper drones for the same amount. Probably less.
I think there will be More cuts in the next defence review, one carrier ,typhoons, one submarine, bases shut down reduction in personnel due to lest assents
The last Trafalgar was planned to go anyway, the Astutes are now online. They better not cut an Astute. Cutting a Carrier would also be madness. Typhoons already are loosing 25 or so the Army doesn’t even have an IFV replacement for warrior going (despite IFVs being the most useful vehicle type in Ukraine.).
We still don’t have ANY antibalistic missile capability or (apart from the SLBMs) th shoot back with.
Bottom line just when we should be arming more and preparing for war we’re stuffed.
They’re doing the usual British government thing of removing capability and resources without their replacement in place then a year or two down the road they’ll cancel the replacement or it won’t arrive
The armd forces are in a state of limbo the Army and Royal navy are under strength as are the reserve forces. The RFA can’t make up it’s mind wether to increase or decrease it’s ships and crews. The defence cuts are crazy, people at the top are all lining there pockets and saying it will never happen but war is on the horizon.
£500 million savings over 5 years is ok ,as long as they invest in a missile defence against cruise missiles and drones with the money, we are wide open to attack