UV Online

Stalemate continues for major Euro UAVs

08 July 2013 - 13:40 by Beth Stevenson in London

Progression of two of Europes most high-profile UAV programmes continues to be questioned as rumours of delay and cancellation rebound throughout the market, defence sources have declared. The Watchkeeper and Euro Hawk programmes in the UK and Germany respectively, have both come under scrutiny from market experts highlighting how the former has yet to enter service while the latter tackles rumours of cancellation. Original timelines dictated that the British Armys Watchkeeper tactical UAV would be operational in Afghanistan during 2010. However, the platform is currently undergoing a Military Aviation Authority (MAA) certification process, the most recent excuse for the delay in deployment. Watchkeeper is breaking new ground as the first large UAS to fly in UK airspace, a UK MoD spokesperson told Shephard. Although the Release-to-Service process is taking

longer than expected, it is essential that Watchkeeper meets the stringent Military Aviation Authority safety and airworthiness regulations. Despite the MoD acknowledging that the programme, particularly the Release-to-Service, is delayed, a defence expert has commented on whether or not the MAA process is to blame for this. The MAA process will facilitate the airworthiness of the platform to fly in UK airspace over dedicated military ranges. However, being so late in the development programme and with ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan looming, leading defence experts are questioning why developers chose not to skip the certification process in order to deploy the system into theatre as soon as possible. I would be speculating, but I will, in that you wonder if this [MAA certification process] is basically an excuse because there are still issues with the programme, Doug Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Shephard. We dont know, but you think that there is an opportunity to get this thing into the field, so why not try it out? But they are not doing this, for whatever reason. Barrie continued. What is the difficulty in doing these two things in parallel? There are probably enough air vehicles to get some into theatre and keep some back here for the certification process. He also described how Watchkeepers involvement in the MAA did not necessarily mean the platform is ready for service, because the process assesses the reliability of it to fly in UK airspace as opposed to its suitability as an ISR platform. So whether or not there are still areas that they have to work on and develop I dont know, Barrie said. Highlighting the withdrawal of UK combat forces from Afghanistan in less than 18 months, Barrie acknowledged that the MoD now has less than six months to grant Release-to-Service for Watchkeeper. You arent going to deploy this thing for a couple of weeks, Barrie said. Realistically you wont deploy it for less than six months to a year. So by early 2014 if it isnt ready, I suspect it wont go. Nevertheless, the MoD spokesperson added that the delivery of Watchkeeper is on track, having achieved some 400 flying hours during UK trials, supported by 32 Regiment Royal Artillery: The MoD remains committed to deploying it to Afghanistan at the earliest opportunity.

In Germany, speculation still surrounds the Euro Hawk HALE UAV programme, which is believed to have been cancelled because the platform carries no sense and avoid equipment, meaning that certification of the airframe would be nigh on impossible. A spokesperson from contractor Northrop Grumman told Shephard that the company, along with its partner EADS, remains committed to the development of the system, having not received any formal written confirmation regarding the cancellation of the programme. She added that Euro Hawk has been performing safely and reliably with good results throughout its entire flight test programme, while another endurance flight test is scheduled for the end of July. Referring to this programme, Barrie said: Im sure there is a huge amount of communication going on behind closed doors. There may be a lot of informal talks as to what is going on. Irrespective of the German decision, and you can see why theyve taken it in some ways, its been handled in a messy fashion so far. It is an unsatisfactory outcome if you like at the moment. Barrie expressed his surprise over how this issue had arisen so late in the development programme, considering the importance of sense and avoid technology when developing new UAV platforms. This is not something nobody thought about, and everybody knows that this is something you have to look at. There are significant research programmes going on in the likes of the US and in the likes of Germany as well. So the devil is in the detail with this one as to what was in the agreements in the first place. The German MoD was not available to comment on the Euro Hawk programme.