UK retains Chinooks in Afghanistan

The UK has retained a number of Chinook transport helicopters in Afghanistan to support personnel assigned to the NATO training and advisory mission in the country.
Three RAF Chinooks previously assigned to operations in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan have been relocated to Kabul to support the servicemen that remain in the country following the wider withdrawal of UK forces last month.
The Chinooks become the last UK air assets to remain in Afghanistan following the announcement in mid-November that all UK forces had now left. While the RAF's Panavia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft were withdrawn to much fanfare in mid-November, there has been no public announcement related to the other air assets in theatre, beyond the general announcements about UK forces having left their main area of operations in southern Afghanistan.
Other UK air assets stationed in Afghanistan comprised the RAF's General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a number of which have now been transferred to operations over Iraq, as well as the British Army's AgustaWestland-Boeing Apache AH.1 attack helicopters, AgustaWestland Lynx AH.9A support helicopters, and Thales Watchkeeper WK450 UAVs. All of these are now understood to either be back in the UK or in transit back to the UK.
In July, military sources disclosed that the upgraded Westland/Aerospatiale SA 330E Puma HC.2 medium-lift transport helicopter may be deployed to Kabul in 2015 to help support the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.
This MoD statement regarding the retention of some Chinooks in Kabul demonstrates that NATO and the West was never going to be able (or even willing) to make a clean break from Afghanistan with the cessation of combat operations at the end of 2014.
janes

British Pilots Finally Training On Watchkeeper

With flight clearances in place, British Army pilots are now able to support troop training with the Thales Watchkeeper unmanned aerial system (UAS).
It has been a long time coming. Initially due for entry into service three years ago, Watchkeeper has not had an easy introduction, facing extra scrutiny as the first UAS to be certified by the U.K.’s new military air safety body, the Military Aviation Authority (MAA). Meanwhile, the loss of one of its precursors in Afghanistan, a leased-in Hermes 450, has resulted in a radical change in the configuration of the army’s UAS operations, to those more closely matching that of a typical flying squadron in the Army Air Corps or the Royal Air Force.
In March, the system was given its interim release to service, allowing army crews from the Royal Artillery to begin operations. Until then, army pilots had only been able to fly through the use of a Military Flight Test Permit (MFTP) in conjunction with Thales test pilots.
Once all 54 platforms and 14 ground stations are in service, they will be pooled between two front-line active-duty units, the 32 and 47 Regiments of Royal Artillery, each with five flights using five systems each.
aviationweek

THALES’S WATCHKEEPER GIVEN RELEASE TO SERVICE BY UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Watchkeeper, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) developed by Thales for the British Army, has been given a Release To Service by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD).
Watchkeeper is the first UAS to be awarded a full Release To Service (RTS), and is the only UAS of its type allowed to fly in UK airspace. The RTS follows rigorous safety and airworthiness reviews to ensure the system can be operated safely by the British Army. It will support British Army operations by allowing training on the system in the UK.
thalesgroup

British Army to start Watchkeeper flights in April

The British Army is within weeks of performing its first training flightsWatchkeeper unmanned air system.
The type “should commence flying from Boscombe Down in early March 2014.
The first flights from the MoD/Qinetiq flight test centre will be conducted in association with the Thales UK/Elbit Systems joint venture responsible for developing the tactical UAS.
Once these have been completed an initial release to service is expected to be authorised to allow the first military flights by the army from early April 2014.
The army’s Watchkeeper system will eventually comprise 54 air vehicles, 15 ground control stations and associated equipment.
flightglobal

Watchkeeper UAV edges towards UK acceptance

The British Army’s late-running Watchkeeper unmanned air system has cleared a major hurdle on its way to delayed service introduction, with the UK Military Aviation Authority (MAA) having approved a statement of type design assurance.
With this MAA approval now in place, Thales/Elbit Systems joint venture UTacS and the army will next seek to secure military type certification for the Watchkeeper before it can be introduced by Royal Artillery batteries.
The MoD in mid-September announced that an interim intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance service being provided by Thales in Afghanistan using Elbit’s Hermes 450 UAS (below) has passed 70,000 flying hours. Operated from Camp Bastion in Helmand province since 2007 under an urgent operational requirement deal, air vehicles are currently organised in five “task lines”. Roughly 1,460 flights per year are currently being conducted with the fleet.
flightglobal

Thales Watchkeeper UAS gains French colours

Thales is hoping that its offer of the Watchkeeper tactical unmanned air system could take off with the French army, with the company exhibiting a full-size model of the reconnaissance asset sporting the service's markings.
Developed for the British Army from the Elbit Systems Hermes 450, the Watchkeeper carries an electro-optical/infrared sensor turret and Thales's I-Master synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication payload.
flightglobal