Sixteen Protector RG Mk1 air vehicles have been bought for the Royal Air Force and eleven have been delivered into service, with the remainder still in test and evaluation with the manufacturer, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked how many MQ-9B Protector RG-1 are in service with the RAF.
Luke Pollard, the Minister of State for Defence, said: “Sixteen Protector RG Mk1 air vehicles have been purchased by the UK, eleven of which have been delivered into service, with others remaining in test and evaluation with the manufacturer.”
Protector replaced the MQ-9A Reaper, which flew for two decades over Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria before being retired. The new aircraft is built to a NATO airworthiness standard with a detect and avoid system, lightning protection and de-icing, which allows it to fly in unsegregated British airspace alongside civil traffic without a block of sky being reserved for it. It carries Brimstone 3 missiles and Paveway IV bombs alongside electro-optical and infrared sensors.
The fleet is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire with 31 Squadron. Ministers confirmed last week that a Protector flying over the English Channel on 14 October was operating in support of defence aims and not, as the question had suggested, in support of the Home Office.
Should have kept Reapers for places like MPN/ASI/BIOT where there is no/limited congested airspace
The new SAAB loyaleye AEW sensor available for protector looks perfect for our needs. We should convert the entire protector fleet to carrying these airborne sensors. They are the perfect complement to both E7 and Crows-nest and they can provide targeting information for CAMM and CAMM MR to intercept low flying cruise missiles attacking the UK.
Protector is no longer fit to do the job it was envisaged for (battlefield ISR and low level insurgency strike) these would not last five minutes on a modern battlefield even against low end insurgents likes the Houthis.
But they are perfect for tasks in the North Atlantic supplementing our small fleet of E7 and P8 for AEW and MPA.