The Guardian has tonight revealed that the RAF will ‘stand-up’ its new drone squadron – 13 Squadron – at a ceremony at RAF Waddington this Friday (26th Oct). The UK’s five armed Reaper drones are currently piloted from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. In May 2011 the UK announced that it would begin to control drones from the UK and announced the formation of a new squadron to do so. The UK has also purchased five additional Reapers which are also due to come into service over the next few weeks. Read more
Tag: RAF Waddington
Revealed: MoD media briefing on British drone operations
The Ministry of Defence’s ‘Top Level Messages’ briefing for January 2012 contains several items on recent UK drone operation and developments. While there are no new or dramatic revelations it’s an interesting summary of the UK’s current drone activities.
- The UK Reaper Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) programme has now provided over 30,000 hours of high quality, persistent armed Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) support to UK and ISAF forces in Afghanistan.
- Peter Luff MP, Minister of Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, announced in December that the MOD had placed a £40 million contract for aerospace research with BAE Systems. The four-year Future Combat Air System (FCAS) Focused Research contract aims to sustain and develop the UK’s critical technology and skills in this field. It will inform the MOD’s unmanned air system strategy over the coming decades to ensure that the best use is made of these new technologies.
- The Hermes 450 unmanned air system has provided over 50,000 hours of support to UK Forces since it entered service in 2007.
- On 6 December 2010, the Prime Minister announced that funding will be made available to enable further increases in the UK Reaper RPAS capability. RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire has been selected as the preferred location for the basing of a key element of this additional capability, the Ground Control Stations. The decision to base the Ground Control Stations at RAF Waddington was informed by the fact that the Station is the RAF’s ISTAR Hub with the required flying supervisory chain of command. Work has already commenced at RAF Waddington in preparation for the stand up of XIII Squadron, the arrival of the UK Reaper Ground Control Stations and associated equipment in 2012.
- At this stage there are no plans to base or fly UK Reaper aircraft in the UK as the aircraft are specifically required to be based in Afghanistan to support UK and Coalition Forces under Urgent Operational Requirement. However, in the future, as the Ground Control Stations will be based within the UK, RAF crews will be able to fly the UK Reaper aircraft remotely from the UK.
- The MOD intends to begin relocating 39 Squadron from Creech Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada to RAF Waddington once XIII Squadron is operational. The relocation of 39 Squadron will be phased to ensure there is no disruption to UK Reaper support to current operations. While there are a range of benefits of being collocated with the USAF at Creech AFB, the manpower requirements of 2 squadrons (39 and XIII Squadrons) will require qualified crews to be available for additional tours of duty on Reaper to reduce.
While the MoD is briefing journalists with selected information about UK drone operations, we’d really like them to answer our questions and Freedom of Information requests on the circumstances of the more than 200 UK drone strikes in Afghanistan.
Internal MoD briefing on British drones reveals push to capture public opinion
An internal briefing on British drones by the leading RAF staff officer working on the controversial weapon system stresses the need for the MoD to develop a “communication strategy” to win over public opinion in support of armed drones. As part of such a strategy, MoD Air Staff officer Wing Commander Chris Thirtle urges the MoD to “stress the equivalence of [drones] to traditional combat aircraft.”
The MoD’s Defence Current Issues Briefing on Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS), commonly known as drones, comes just three months after the MoD think tank the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre issued The UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft Systems which saw clear differences between manned and unmanned aircraft saying for example “inevitably, some unmanned aircraft activities will face legal challenge, or create moral and ethical dilemmas….”
As well as stressing the importance of public opinion, the presentation also reveals some new details about British drones, including:
- Official confirmation that RAF 39 Squadron who control British Reapers over Afghanistan from the Nevada desert will be returning from the US to work alongside the new drone squadron at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire
- That 2 out of 3 weapons fired from British drones are Hellfire missiles
- That the five additional Reaper drones to be purchased from General Atomics will be in service by 2013, increasing drone flying hours in Afghanistan to 72 hours per day
While the MoD is apparently busy developing its public communications strategy on armed drones, I am still awaiting communication in response to my January 2011 request under the Freedom of Information Act for information about the 124 people killed by British drones in Afghanistan.
British drones over Afghanistan to be piloted from UK
STOP PRESS
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced today that it is forming a second, RAF drones squadron to be based at RAF Waddington in Lincs. RAF pilots will control the UKs armed Reaper drones that fly in Afghanistan from Waddington rather than as at present, from US Air Force base Creech in Nevada. The Reaper drones themselves will continue to be based in Afghanistan.
UK Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, says in the statement:
“Reaper aircraft are providing valuable support to our front-line troops in Afghanistan. We are committed to providing the best available equipment to our Armed Forces. The formation of this new Squadron follows our doubling of the Reaper capability to ten aircraft, which represents an increased investment of £135M. This extra Squadron will help us get the best out of this valuable armed reconnaissance aircraft.”
More to follow.