A Tekever AR5 unmanned aerial system (UAS) drone at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, UK, on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
BELFAST — The UK says it will spend up to £400 million ($533 million) over the next decade on locally produced Tekever AR5 surveillance drones as a replacement for its troubled British Army Watchkeeper aircraft.
Near term, the UK MoD plans on ordering a first batch of six AR5s and expects to receive a fleet of up to 24 units by 2029, according to an MoD statement. The MoD said Tekever, a British-Portuguese firm, will make the aircraft in a new production facility envisioned as opening in the summer of 2026 in Swindon, England.
Watchkeeper intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) drones have been in service for more than a decade, but in November 2024 the MoD reached a decision to scrap a planned acquisition of 46 airframes as part of sweeping equipment cuts aimed at delivering savings of £500 million over five years.
Then-UK Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Military Capability) Lt. Gen. Robert Magowan previously told lawmakers that the MoD learned from the Ukraine war that Watchkeeper is “no longer fit for operational purpose,” and a replacement capability would be delivered in 2025. (Thales UK, manufacturer of the Watchkeeper, told FlightGlobal that while London’s decision to cut the platform was “disappointing,” the company said it was “proud of Watchkeeper’s success in Afghanistan, support to Border Force and, most recently, being deployed in Estonia.”)
