U.K. Watchkeeper sets tone for UAV programs: Britain still deciding what technology to use for its unmanned aerial vehicles system.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana

Defense contractors are watching closely the United Kingdom's $778 million program to develop a family of unmanned aircraft for intelligence gathering missions. The Ministry of Defence has set an ambitious schedule and demanding requirements for its Watchkeeper program.

The British Ministry of Defence is still examining technology options for the program although it has formally announced the program's performance requirements, according to analysts.

The Watchkeeper will be an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance system, designed to meet growing needs for collection of battlefield intelligence.

Watchkeeper UAVs will include advanced sensor packages, passing data into network-centric warfare systems connecting strike weapons and mobile ground stations. The MOD is looking at two types of vehicles as part of the program--a short-range tactical UAV (TUAV) to support brigades, and a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV to provide operational and strategic intelligence.

The acceleration of the program also coincided with a $5.51 billion increase in the U.K. defense budget for 2005-2006.

U.K. government officials have expressed support for the Watchkeeper program. "We have learned a great deal from the use of our Phoenix UAV in the Balkans, a system which was designed as an artillery spotter, but which quickly took on a far wider intelligence-gathering role," said British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in a statement. "But advances in data-link technology now mean that modern UAVs offer greater potential for improving operational effectiveness."

Therefore, the MOD has decided to significantly shorten the schedule, particularly the systems integration assurance phase (SIAP) of the Watchkeeper program, to allow a "meaningful capability" to be available by 2005, instead of 2007 as initially planned.

The four contractor teams selected to compete for the SLAP are BAE Systems, Thales, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Putting Watchkeeper on the fist track may not necessarily work as planned, however, experts said. The fact that the MOD has accelerated the program does not necessarily mean that the capabilities will be ready by 2005, said Larry Dickerson, a UAV analyst with Forecast International DMS, a business intelligence firm.

"We'll have it our by 2005--that is sometimes a way to show support for the program," he said. "It is a vote of confidence. We are really pushing to see if we get something in our hands by...