The UOR contract is being fulfilled by Thales UK through a highly innovative 'fly-by-the-hour' agreement, originally signed in mid-June 2007. It included the provision of the H-450 unmanned air vehicles, the training of the UK MoD staff in the use and maintenance of the system, the provision of contractor logistic support (CLS), and program management services. This ensures high system availability and contributes to the low whole-life costs.
The WATCHKEEPER system comes into service in 2011, replacing the H-450, and will provide enhanced capability. This includes electro-optic/infra red (EO/IR) imaging and synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI) capabilities. The first production WATCHKEEPER UAV platform undertook it's maiden flight on April 16, 2008. This is the first air vehicle to be designed and built to meet the demanding requirements of the U.K. MoD. On July 23rd last year, automated take-off and landing flights of the WATCHKEEPER UAV using Thales's MAGIC ATOLS were successfully performed and validated. Last November, WATCHKEEPER's first system flight trials occurred, with the autonomous flight taking place under the system guidance of the WATCHKEEPER ground control software and fully integrated within the ground control station (GCS). These trials of the UAS will continue throughout 2009, and will validate the key mission system capa-bility of the WATCHKEEPER system.