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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 21h

Short footage of a BAE Archer SPG launching a Bonus Mk2 anti armour submunition. Against massed armoured and other vehicles, these can be devastatingly effective.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Short film clip of a Bison Engineering C-Lift T Series transportable container. These add width to a standard ISO container but allow it to be loaded and unloaded from a vehicle without external assistance.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Short video clip of a Brimstone missile firing in salvo mode against three fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) and a decoy. Long read on Brimstone here www.thinkdefence.co.uk/docs/brimsto...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Short media clip of an Elbit Light PULS concept. Think of it as a HIMARS on a trailer or pickup truck

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Interesting video of an Elbit Sting 12km range tri-mode 120mm guided mortar bomb launching from a Cardom 120mm mortar. If we are going 120mm mortar, we should consider something like this.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Good clip of a US Marine Corps Ontos, having its barrels cleaned, and a well-earned cigarette for the cleaner!

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Short video clip of an Airbus A400M during helicopter airborne refuelling development. This would be a fantastic capability to add to both UK Merlin and Chinook fleets.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Brief film clip showing a Concrete Canvas using their flexible concrete sheet material as a boat ramp. This makes for an interesting alternative to trackway for some applications.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Picture HNOMS Gnist of the Norwegian navy and a Wildcat helicopter from 847 Naval Air Squadron

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

6 years after FOC, in November 2024, the MoD announced plans to withdraw Watchkeeper END

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Initial Operating Capability 1 was achieved in 2014, 4 years later than planned, and 7 years later than envisaged at contract award. FOC was also slipped to 2017. IOC 2 was achieved in 2016. Full Operating Capability (FOC) was achieved in 2018, a decade after Phoenix OSD

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

By the end of 2013, the leased Hermes 450’s had flown over 70,000 hours across 5 task lines. In March 2014, the MoD announced that Watchkeeper had been given clearance to begin flying training in the UK with Royal Artillery aircrew.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Flight testing continued, in 2011, Watchkeeper flew a 14-hour flight in which it was flown to its service ceiling of 4,880m (ca. 16,010 ft) and 115 km from the West Wales Airport. In 2011, it was announced that Watchkeeper would be deployed to Afghanistan the following year.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Full Operating Capability was slipped to 2013, and in 2008, Watchkeeper took its first flight in Israel. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vRy...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

In 2007, the UK acquired Predator B/Reaper under an urgent operational requirement. As a stop-gap for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, the MoD obtained a number of Hermes 450’s from Thales UK in 2007 under Project Lydian, operated by a military/civilian mix of personnel.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It was also announced that the smaller vehicle would now no longer be part of the programme. Watchkeeper would be a single air vehicle with a two-sensor payload and a ground control station mounted on a Supacat vehicle that could be carried onboard a C-130 Hercules.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Thales and Northrop Grumman were down selected for the Assessment Phase. £8m contracts were awarded to the two down selected bidders for risk reduction work. In July 2004, Thales was selected as preferred bidder and the contract award was in 2005 with a planned in-service date of 2007.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Watchkeeper was still joint, the RAF were interested in its bomb damage assessment and target designation capabilities. The RN included a range of maritime and littoral battlespace capability requirements, in addition to support for the RM

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Thomson Racal Defence, by then, Thales; The Lydian Hermes 450 and 180.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Northrop Grumman; The Fire Scout and RUAG Ranger

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Lockheed Martin; The EADS Eagle and Meggitt Spectre 3

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

BAE; Proposed the RQ-1 Predator and AAI Shadow

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Mid-response, the MoD then decided to merge SENDER and SPECTATOR into WATCHKEEPER, with £3.5 study contracts each awarded to BAE, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Thomson Racal Defence

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The SENDER ITT was issued to Aérospatiale Matra, Bell Textron, GKN Westland, Hunting, Thomson-CSF, Lockheed Martin, Matra BAe Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Racal, Raytheon and TRW. Planned In Service Date (ISD) was 2008, coinciding with Phoenix Out of Service Date (OSD)

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

SENDER was also intended to have minefield detection and electronic warfare payloads. SPECTATOR was a larger system designed for higher levels (Brigade/Division) than SENDER, with a 150 km range and dual electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar payloads.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Battlegroup Unmanned Aircraft (BgUMA) evolved into two discrete requirements, SENDER and SPECTATOR. SENDER was also integral to ASTOR and TRACER, fully joined up thinking from the MoD. It was a battalion relevant system with a 30 km range and an electro-optical and IR payload

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

DERA (with Cranfield Aerospace and Tasuma) had demonstrated the Observer system to serve as a test bed for future systems, first flight in 1999. The MoD was supporting UAV research a decade before Phoenix left service under the Battlegroup Unmanned Aircraft (BgUMA) programme

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

In the previous thread, Phoenix was withdrawn from service in 2008, but the story of Watchkeeper starts ten years before, in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Let's discuss… The history of Watchkeeper Tactical UAS 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Images; The Ancillia Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd (SEA) Trainable Countermeasure Launcher.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

An image of The T4 Robotic System, a highly mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV)

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Picture A Soldier guides a Warrior Mechanised Combat Vehicle over a bridge on Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area during a training exercise on Ex STEADFAST DEFENDER

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Picture The Royal Navy's uncrewed seaboat, APAC 24, being driven autonomously in Portugal during REPMUS24

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Pictured: The successful first guided firing of the new air-to-surface SPEAR 3 mini-cruise missile in Sweden

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Pictured: The Joint Air Delivery Test and Evaluation Unit (JADTEU) AP received the Archer Mobile Howitzer 155mm 6x6 Gun System to confirm C-17 transportability

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Pictures: Royal Air Force Movers load a GMLRS onboard a RAF ATLAS C.1 ready for take-off during Exercise Swift Response (part of Exercise Steadfast Defender)

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The lesson is simple, it matters not one jot who was right or wrong, whether it was a sneaky underhand tactic or merely a mistake, everyone lost, everyone lost because military aspiration and financial reality were strangers Wonder where we have heard that before END

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

As Dr Bradbury argues, inter service rivalry and politicking merely delayed the inevitable decisions that came, those decisions were about resource constraint rather than anything else.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Both the Foreign Office AND Treasury were opposed, and the RAF/RN politics and in-fighting (of which there were in abundance) and shoddy staff work merely added to the atmosphere.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In reality, this was a minor sideshow of little or no relevance to the Royal Navy CVA01 or Royal Air Force F-111, both were cancelled.

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Strategic Decision Making Theory www.scribd.com/document/647...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Insights Into Defence Procurement TSR-2 V CVA-01 www.scribd.com/document/666...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thirty Years On: Reflections On CVA-01 Versus TSR2 www.scribd.com/document/648...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

As part of his PhD research, Jeffery Bradford looked at all the evidence web.archive.org/web/20240705...

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

As told, what happened is the RAF used a map with an incorrect projection in a presentation that gave the impression that Australia was closer to Singapore than it was, favouring their F-111 and land basing strategy (soon after TSR2 cancellation) instead of CVA01

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The truth is boring, ambiguous, and had precisely zero impact on the cancellation of the aircraft carrier in question. Various sources are attributed to the accusation, Admiral Raymond Lygo and Sir Michael Quinlan being often described as the source of the Nile!

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This is one of those recurring themes that people love to discuss, whether they think it is a yes or a no, and they remain convinced that there are either mountains of evidence, or none. People also assume that no one has ever actually looked

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Let's discuss… If the RAF ever moved Australia to get CVA01 cancelled? 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗

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Think Defence @thinkdefence.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Images; Royal Marines and British Army medical personnel practice with the I-CWIK rapid cooling system used to treat heat illness patients in the field, in the summer heat of Episkopi, Cyprus

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