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Eurosatory 2012: Bureaucracy blamed for Watchkeeper waiting game

13th June 2012 - 15:08 GMT | by Andrew White in Paris

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The British Army's W450 Watchkeeper UAV programme is still awaiting its 'Release to Service' from the Aircraft Test and Evaluation Centre (ATEC) before it can even contemplate conducting operations in Afghanistan, industry sources have disclosed.

According to senior executives at Thales, this Release to Service has been ongoing since the end of 2011 when the company said it had delivered all relevant documentation required for review. However, none were able to provide a guide as to when the process would most likely be completed.

On 20 March, UK minister for defence equipment and support, Peter Luff said: 'Watchkeeper will be

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Andrew White

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Andrew White


Andrew is a former editor of Digital Battlespace and Unmanned Vehicles magazines. Andrew joined Shephard …

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