The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has extended Thales UK's H-450 unmanned air system (UAS) contract that provides vital intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) support to UK forces on current operations.
The contract, which comes into effect in July, will run through to 2011 when the H-450 UAS will be replaced by the newly developed WATCHKEEPER. The H-450 ISTAR service provided by Thales began in July 2007 in response to an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) contract issued by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Since being deployed in mid-2007, the H-450 UAS has flown in excess of 19,000 hours. It has been an invaluable intelligence-gathering asset, delivering high-quality imagery and image intelligence to the Land Component Commander.