(Europa) Royal Air Force

[Rob]

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Watchkeeper Win
Thales UK selected for the MoD's WATCHKEEPER programme

Today the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the selection of Thales UK
as the preferred bidder for the next phase of the acquisition cycle of the
WATCHKEEPER programme. WATCHKEEPER will provide the UK armed
forces with an essential Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and
Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability based on a tactical unmanned air
vehicle (UAV) system and will be a key component of the UK's drive for
Network Enabled Capability (NEC).
Alex Dorrian, CEO Thales UK said, &ldquo;We are delighted that our
solution has been selected. WATCHKEEPER is a very important
programme for the British armed forces and as such this decision is a
strong vote of confidence in Thales UK and our multi-domestic approach.
We are ready to get moving and look forward to working closely with the
MoD to deliver, as prime contractor, an excellent operational capability
both on time, on budget and to requirement.
The decision firmly establishes Thales in
the global UAV systems market and reinforces our position as a major
British defence company and trusted prime contractor. It also
demonstrates our strong ISTAR and NEC capabilities that are so key to
the future strategy of Thales UK and the British armed forces. Based on an
endorsement of our solution we expect to secure around £400m worth of
export orders that will also be fulfilled in the UK.
WATCHKEEPER is the most significant UAV programme in Europe and this is therefore a key moment in Thales' UAV strategy. It confirms our expertise in systems integration, sensors and network enabled capability. Supported by our worldwide presence, Thales will offer from our UK centre of excellence, interoperable and competitive tactical UAV solutions to other customers in Europe and around the world.
The Thales UK WATCHKEEPER solution will create or sustain up to 2100
jobs, all of which will be in the UK. These high technology jobs in systems
integration, prime contracting, engineering and manufacturing will be within Thales UK, the Thales WATCHKEEPER team companies and throughout
the UK supply chain. Exports are expected to increase this total to 2500.
Thales is establishing a JV company with Elbit Systems in Leicester to
manufacture tactical UAV sub-systems to supply both WATCHKEEPER
and the rapidly growing worldwide UAV systems market, estimated to be
worth around £3bn over the next 10 years. The operational benefits of the
Thales UK solution include: a fully integrated ground environment; higher
endurance, lower attrition air vehicles; a minimal logistic footprint and the ability to deploy a full system to theatre in a single C-130 Hercules
aircraft.