New British Killer Drone Called “Protector”
October 6th, 2015Maybe “Reaper Overkill Edition” didn’t do so well in focus groups.
Via: Janes:
The UK is to receive 20 new ‘Protector’ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of a wider ramp-up of unmanned, surveillance, and special forces capabilities to combat militant Islam in the Middle East, Prime Minister David Cameron announced on 3 October.
Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Cameron said that the 10 General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (Predator B) medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAVs currently fielded by the Royal Air Force (RAF) will be replaced by double the number of the Protector UAVs “to keep us safe and to give us the intelligence and information and potentially give us the capacity to hit people who are potentially planning to hit us”.
There is no UAV known to be in development or service known as Protector, and Cameron provided little detail except to say that it will be able to fly longer distances, is quieter and can carry more sophisticated weapons and equipment than the incumbent Reaper.
