Clearly they need to hire @clinkadink Chris to guide them!
Britain’s fleet of Watchkeeper drones struggles to operate in poor weather conditions and none are on operations despite costing about £5 million each.
The spy drones were so extensively modified, with nearly 2,000 additional system requirements requested, that they became too heavy, contributing to the overall programme being an “unmitigated disaster”, an MP. said Eight of them have been written off at a cost of £40 million.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Hermes 450 drone, on which the Watchkeeper was based, has played a key role in the country’s counterterrorism operations.
However, the heavily modified UK version has proved less successful. Several of the drones have crashed, partly because they have been weighed down by the extra specifications.
The drone is also restricted to operating in certain weather conditions. An inquiry into defence procurement by the Commons defence committee found that the programme, which entered service many years late, was “bedevilled” by 265 user requirements and 1,910 additional system requirements.