A series of written questions posed by James Cartlidge, Conservative MP for South Suffolk, have shed light on the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) plans for the replacement of the Watchkeeper Mk 1 unmanned aerial system (UAS), set to retire in March 2025.
Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, provided detailed responses outlining the future trajectory for the Army’s Deep Find capability and the implications for personnel and allied collaboration.
Pollard confirmed that the MOD plans to procure a modern Land Tactical Deep Find (LTDF) capability to replace the 14-year-old Watchkeeper system. This replacement will incorporate lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine and utilise emerging technologies to ensure it is suited for NATO’s frontline needs.
“The Army will procure a modern Land Tactical Deep Find (LTDF) capability to replace the 14 years old Watchkeeper Mk 1 capability following its retirement from March 2025,” Pollard stated.
The LTDF system aims to enhance the Army’s ability to deliver actionable intelligence and reconnaissance within a NATO operational framework.
Pollard emphasised that the retirement of the Watchkeeper will not diminish the role of the 47th Regiment Royal Artillery. Instead, personnel will leverage their skills and experience with the Watchkeeper system to lead the fielding of the LTDF capability.
“Plans currently identify that 47 Regiment Royal Artillery will continue to deliver the Army’s Deep Find capability by turning their skills and experience from Watchkeeper Mk 1 to lead on fielding the new Deep Find capability,” he said.
In response to a question about the potential gifting of Watchkeeper platforms or parts to allies, Pollard stated that plans for the phased withdrawal of the system are still in development.
As the retirement date for Watchkeeper approaches, further details are expected regarding the phased withdrawal and potential reallocation of its components.
Ok let’s see how quickly they get the new capability and can get it in service.
And what personnel do in the meantime.
Play DCS…
I suspect more ‘gaining a deeper understanding, and informing future decisions, ‘
Or am I being cynical?
No, we’ll be dreaming of that bloody phrase before long.
Hi Posse, soldiers just love doing that for over 40 hrs per week!
Dismantling the Watchkeepers and pack them off to Ukraine I suppose.. we can only hope that the purchase is a pretty immediate off the shelf option..I’m not holding my breath but we can but live in hope.
‘Instead, personnel will leverage their skills and experience with the Watchkeeper system to lead the fielding of the LTDF capability.’
Of course even though they are trying to give the sort of impression that they will be flying in some form a replacement in the same effective manner as the Watchkeeper it doesn’t do anything of the sort. I mean ‘lead the fielding’ could mean anything from individuals taking turns at looking at glossy pics of drones upwards, and very probably downwards too. Is it my imagination or has the meaningless waffle on almost anything gone up a notch with this new Govt? I’m waiting for ‘working soldiers’ and ‘military toolmakers’ to become ‘state of the art’ buzzwords soon. I fear we will be getting a lot more of this as the concept of us urgently re-armaming takes precedence over any actual rearmament.
Probably a few kites
Or maybe it implies that the replacement will have transferable skills from Watchkeeper, ie it’s a MALE drone.
That means Mojave, realistically. Does anyone know any other similar UAVs?
Not really, people have stopped making them as they are too vulnerable.
Poland just ordered 3 MQ-9B SkyGuardian.
There are plenty of MALE drones, but we know that, like the TB2, they quickly became less effective on the battlefield and “incorporating lessons from Ukraine” says it won’t be the TB2. I don’t know why we’d be looking for a like-for-like replacement for Watchkeeper. If we were, I’d take the Israeli Hermes 900.
The question for me is unit-price versus attritability. Are we going to go for a few expensive non-attritable drones, like Mojave/Hermes, or swarms of cheap disposable? I’d love for us to go for the latter if there’s something that can help with sensor fusion and interpretation. Logistics would also be a question mark for me. Is it as easy to cart around a swarm of cheap drones as it is a handful of big expensive ones? I doubt it, although them being longer distance drones would make it easier.
And of coarse the new replacement will be more advanced and be able to do more…
So the order will be cut in half and then we will find out it cost too much and cant do all the tasks
“Pollard emphasised that the retirement of the Watchkeeper will not diminish the role of the 47th Regiment Royal Artillery”
So what replaces the Watchkeeper radar?
“Thales I-Master Radar performs both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in strip-map and spotlight modes and supports high-quality ground mapping. The Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) can detect and track moving targets.”
Previously had in Sentinel. Also gone.
Cheap as chips might not have the sensors.
Problem is warfare has changed, sticking high end sensors that cost millions on an aircraft is a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately no one yet has a clear indication of what can replace these. SAR satellite will be part of the solution but can’t provide continuous coverage. It’s more likely they go rotor wing and cheaper to have greater numbers. Just look at what happens to Russian A50’s though and you can see why Sentinal and even E3 had to go.
It’s not just us, the USA is doing much the same all be it with some interim capability gap fillers like E7.
Perhaps sensor fusion. Don’t have a single high-end sensor interpreting changes, fuse many cheap sensor viewpoints instead.
There is nothing to replace AWACS . E7 is a direct replacement for E3.
I think part of Watchkeeper cancellation is that UK is do not expect to be in a land war.
Alex, why would you say that UK do not expect to be in a land war? Our army has had very, very frequent deployments to land wars since WW2 (and sustained many casualties) and I don’t see that the current era is one of peace.
Many respected people from Ben Wallace to General Sanders have said that we are in a pre-war situation. NATOs Sec General Mark Rutte said only yesterday that “it is time to “shift to a wartime mindset”, as he warned the military alliance’s members were not spending enough to prepare for the threat of a future conflict with Russia.
He said that Moscow was “preparing for long-term confrontation with Ukraine and with us”, describing the current security situation as the worst in his lifetime. “We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years,” he said in his first major speech since becoming secretary general in October, urging members to “turbocharge” their defence spending.
Watchkeeper withdrawal from service is to save money to humour Mrs Reeves, not because we think we are now in a peaceful era and that the CRINK nations pose no land war threat.
Maybe UK will send a reinforced battalion to EUR, but i am not seeing anything heavier in near term. Recon would be done by others with much bigger land army.
They have learned nothing from Ukraine at all.
The army and mod are totally clueless and out of their depth
They learned everything from Ukraine. No one is flying slow romote control drones spotting for artillery any more. Watch keeper would not last 5 minutes over Ukraine and every chance it would get its ground crew killed when they found out where it was landing.
That is the reality if modern warfare.
Dave,
1. the Army has or is writing a Staff Requirement to procure a modern Land Tactical Deep Find (LTDF) to replace the troubled Watchkeeper – well done the Army!
2. Mr Pollock or a political colleague in MoD has decided to withdraw Watchkeeper many, many years before the replacement is fielded to appease Mrs Reeves and the Treasury. Black marks for the politicians.
Let us allocate praise and blame accordingly.
Slight off topic, but talking of Ukraine and drones whilst fundraising tonight this has just shown up in my feed >>
In the 11 months of 2024, the Ministry of Defense delivered over 1.2 million drones to the Defense Forces:
🔸 40,000 reconnaissance multirotor drones, including 12,000+ night-vision drones
🔸 5,000 reconnaissance fixed-wing UAVs (Shark, HOR, Furia, etc.)
🔸 6,000 deep-strike drones (Lutyi, Firepoint, etc.)
🔸 2,000 reusable attack UAVs (Nemesis, Kazhan, Vampire)
🔸 5,000 reusable FPV drones.
🔸 1.1 million FPV kamikaze drones.
By the end of the year, another 100,000 drones are planned for delivery.
And i dont think this includes the ordinary fundraiser by soldiers and volunteers (NAFO)
Good post, it shows why a few dozen watch keepers would be a waste of time in modern warfare. I bet you the Ukrainians will get through those drones we are sending in months.
The “Ministry of Defence” is the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. UK is not sending those drones.
This was a recent conclusion of Ukranian drone attacks against Russia:
“According to the analysis, the threat associated with FPV drones is deemed so grave that it recommended placing a dedicated shooter at the back of every military vehicle near the frontlines in case electronic warfare systems fail to disable the flying explosives.”
It’s a strange irony but China is likely the largest producer of weapon for Ukraine as they make most of the cheap FPV drones.
We need to be thinking and understanding that this scale of effort is required in modern warfare.
I’m guessing watchkeeper replacement is on the same shelf as As90 replacement in the stores waiting to be delivered at pace
There are already two AS90 replacements, one in service and (Archer) and the other on order RCH155 and AS90 still in operation so what are you on about?
David, it certainly won’t be in the stores, as I am sure you know!!
Concept, Assessment, Demonstration amd Manufacture phases need to be undertaken first – that may well take many years.
😍 yes indeed, it is getting monotonously repetitive!