{"id":48138,"date":"2014-09-30T10:27:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T10:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=82ebde24a63e957a45be475bad46ca27"},"modified":"2014-09-30T10:27:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T10:27:13","slug":"news-story-armys-eye-in-the-sky-takes-flight-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=48138","title":{"rendered":"News story: Army’s eye-in-the-sky takes flight in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This new capability is providing force protection for British troops as they prepare to draw down from Afghanistan by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Watchkeeper can carry out surveillance tasks and gains situational awareness via its cutting-edge cameras and radar capability.<\/p>\n

The Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, announced that Watchkeeper was operational during a visit to Kabul alongside the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton, who also visited Camp Bastion where he met army personnel and saw the UAS<\/abbr> in flight. <\/p>\n

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\"Royal<\/div>
Royal Artillery personnel assembling a Watchkeeper unmanned air system at Camp Bastion [Picture: Corporal Mark Larner, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mr Fallon said:<\/p>\n

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Watchkeeper is the first unmanned air system developed and built in the UK to become operational and will be a significant surveillance and reconnaissance capability for the Army for years to come. There is no doubt that it will prove to be a battle-winning technology.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

General Houghton said:<\/p>\n

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The enhanced real-time situational awareness Watchkeeper provides means that our local understanding is greater, our tactical decisions better informed, and that, ultimately, personnel on the ground are safer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Watchkeeper pilot and payload operator, Sergeant Alex Buchanan, said:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a real privilege to be the first to fly the Army\u2019s new Watchkeeper remotely-piloted air system on operations. It\u2019s an amazing capability and has already provided important information to troops, enhancing the safety of everyone that lives and works at Bastion.<\/p>\n

The video and images we provide are a bit like what you might have seen during police chases on TV; the main differences are the videos and pictures are a much higher resolution and we fly the aircraft from a control centre on the ground.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"Watchkeeper<\/div>
A Watchkeeper is readied for take-off at Camp Bastion [Picture: Corporal Mark Larner, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gathering crucial information from the battlefield, Watchkeeper<\/a>, built by Thales UK, will provide UK troops with life-saving surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence. It will also give personnel on the ground greater situational awareness, helping to reduce the risk of threats. <\/p>\n

Following the handover of Camp Bastion, the UAS<\/abbr> will return home to Wiltshire where Royal Artillery troops will continue to train with the system in restricted airspace over Salisbury Plain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The British Army’s next generation of unmanned air system (UAS), Watchkeeper, is now fully operational in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}