Britain is bringing forward plans to give the RAF’s Protector drone a maritime capability, with a review of the programme now under way and revised milestones expected by December 2026.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard disclosed the move in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who asked what progress had been made towards integrating Protector with P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and Type 26 frigates.
Pollard said: “The Defence Investment Plan directed Maritime capabilities for the PROTECTOR RG Mk1 be brought forward, and a review of PROTECTOR is therefore currently underway. Rebaselined milestones are expected by December 2026, with a Review Note to follow.”
He added: “In the interim the Capability Sponsor, Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, is progressing capability development activity.”
The 2025 Strategic Defence Review recommended exploring a maritime surveillance capability for Protector, integrated with the RAF’s P-8 Poseidon fleet and the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates.
The review said Protector should be enhanced with maritime surveillance equipment and improved connectivity to give the long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft wider utility. It also placed Protector within the planned evolution of Britain’s anti-submarine warfare force under Atlantic Bastion, envisaging underwater, surface and airborne drones operating alongside Type 26 frigates, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft and nuclear-powered attack submarines.
The concept would use Protector’s endurance to provide persistent surveillance over large maritime areas while connecting its sensor picture with crewed aircraft and warships. The aircraft can remain airborne for more than 30 hours, providing a potentially useful means of maintaining coverage without continuously committing a P-8 to the same task.
The concept is not entirely new to British forces, of course. In 2021, a maritime-configured MQ-9B SeaGuardian, the maritime variant of the aircraft family on which Protector is based, took part in a series of demonstrations in the UK.
During Exercise Joint Warrior, SeaGuardian operated with an RAF P-8 in a manned-unmanned teaming demonstration supporting anti-submarine warfare activity, including the tracking, monitoring and reporting of sonobuoys.
The maritime MQ-9B configuration demonstrated at the time included a maritime surface-search radar, Automatic Identification System receiver and electro-optical and infrared sensors. General Atomics has also developed an anti-submarine warfare mission kit capable of working with sonobuoys.
Those capabilities should not be taken as confirmation of the final equipment fit for British Protector aircraft, which has yet to be disclosed or properly evaluated.
Defence had already begun examining a wider maritime role before publication of the Strategic Defence Review. In January 2025, ministers said Britain was working with the NATO Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force to scope options for using Protector in the North Atlantic and Arctic.
After the Strategic Defence Review, however, the Government stopped short of giving a timetable. Asked in October 2025 when Protector would be integrated with P-8 Poseidon and Type 26, Pollard said the maritime capability was being considered through the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan.
The published Investment Plan subsequently allocated £590 million to Protector over the four years to 2029-30, but did not explicitly describe the maritime surveillance programme. It separately committed £260 million to upgrade the RAF’s P-8 Poseidon aircraft and equip them with the UK-built Sting Ray torpedo.
The latest answer now confirms that the Investment Plan actually resulted in a direction to bring Protector’s maritime capabilities forward, with detailed programme milestones being reconsidered as part of the wider Protector review.
That review comes as the overall aircraft programme works through a number of outstanding issues. The latest government major-projects assessment rated Protector Red, citing its pending programme rebaseline alongside trained crew numbers, Full Motion Video metadata dissemination and delays to weapons testing.
Some of those issues have since moved forward. Protector is already being employed operationally, Paveway IV has been operationally available since March 2026 and Brimstone 3 testing has progressed to analysis ahead of operational clearance.
By December, Defence now expects to have rebaselined the milestones governing the programme, including the work intended to turn Protector from a predominantly land-focused persistent surveillance and strike aircraft into another sensor within Britain’s increasingly integrated North Atlantic maritime force.
Need a Scottish base to operate from. Prestwick maybe or if not how about an enclave at Kinross. Operating from Waddington the MOB is too far away. We also need more frames, say another dozen.
At same time we need GBAD for all our key MOBs against drone and other threats. Operated by the RAF Regiment please.
Fat chance though with this a government.
Even a few more P8s might be a good investment. The current absence of GBAD for bases, ports, infrastructure, seems mind boggling neglectful considering what options are even now currently available. Money or not, find something affordable like other countries do.
perhaps Lossiemouth as a FOB?
Very sensible – the reported losses of large numbers of US drones over Iran suggests these are now too vulnerable to be used over land.
Renewables supplied a record-shattering 53.1% of the UK’s electricity during the first quarter of 2026, crossing the half-way threshold for a single quarter for the first time.
This share represents 43.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean power generated in Q1 alone, a massive 18% increase compared to the same period last year.
If Britain had generated 43.7 TWh of electricity using traditional gas-fired power stations instead of renewables, those power plants would have needed to burn roughly 83 TWh of raw gas due to generation efficiency losses. Clean generation effectively displaced the need for 83 LNG tankers worth of imported fossil fuel in just three months. It goes without saying that the RN could not escort that number of LNG tankers.
The Sofia Offshore Wind Farm operated by RWE, a 1.4 GW project, completed the installation of all 100 of its massive 14 MW turbines in June 2026. It is currently undergoing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) testing and is slated to begin phased grid operations by autumn 2026, in time for winter
Despite high gross exports during windy periods, Britain does remain a net electricity importer overall from the EU market for the time being. However, NESO projects that Britain’s aggressive clean expansion will tip the country into becoming a sustained net exporter by 2028-30.
BP is the latest oil major to announce a withdrawal from the N Sea. All that is left in the basin are the dregs, which are not worth extracting and shipping to a country that can refine them.
Flaring off the “surplus” gas – which is happening right across the globe (except America, where Trump authorised Exxon etc to just vent it to the atmosphere because the global climate emergency is a Chinese hoax) is a major source of global heating
If Jackdaw is approved it will provide less than 2% of the UK’s winter gas needs and has cost in excess of $2.5 billion in tax breaks and direct subsidies to the developer. Organised by the Tory investment banker Clare Coutinho when she was SoS Energy Security and Net Zero
And? 🤡
Good technical post. Is there any fall back in the UK energy system if any of these renewables fail? Like storage batteries, diesel gen sets, nuclear or even coal? Any tidal power being sourced? With all the UK renewable infrastructure going hopefully UK manufacturering is getting investment and employment.
This was always going to be the route since the selection of MQ-9B, because it could fly in civili airspace in UK and Western Europe. We weren’t planning on bombing our allies on land so sea surveillance and AEW were always on the cards. I was pretty surprised.when I read the Protectors were turning up without a maritime radar, especially as Leonardo’s Seaspray 7500 had already been integrated, the same radar we use on Navy Wildcats.
Now LoyalEye and MQ9B STOL please!
Having a less expensive and longer endurance platform than P-8 to ferry sonobuoys will reduce the costs of peacetime ASW hugely. If we can avoid the situations like last August when 4 Poseidons were in the air at once to maintain patrols off Norway that would help a lot. GA-ASI are also pretty good at integrating new weapons so having Spear or Stingray won’t take ages and ages.
Testing, all of my other comments today have been rejected as spam.
Testing
A Review Note .. gosh that will have Putin trembling in his boots 😒
The fleet needs adding too as well as getting the right fit. FOB’s such as Kinloss (plenty space there) and Culdrose will allow them to cover all the active areas needing such cover. More P8’s would also be welcome as they could also take on some of the Maritime strike role with the new long range missiles coming on stream. NO brainer really but the clowns in Government and MOD will simply not go for it.