WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- The British Royal Air Force will this month receive its first two new Predator B drones, Jane's Defense Weekly reports.
The publication cited unnamed defense sources, and said the drones would be flown by a Royal Air Force squadron based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. The base is currently home to a number of high-technology spy aircraft like the Nimrod.
The Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is manufactured by San Diego, Calif.-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. The Predator B is designated MQ-9 Reaper by the U.S. Air Force, and will also be deployed this year by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an element of the Department of Homeland Security, on the Canadian frontier.
Jane's said initial efforts to acquire the newer, more advanced Predator "stalled on cost grounds," but that had been resolved by the use of a procurement instrument called "an urgent operational requirement" and "by bringing forward some funding" from a British Ministry of Defense project, code-named Dabinett, aimed at developing long-range surveillance and intelligence capabilities.
Jane's said the Predator B is a "larger and more capable" version of its predecessor, "with more advanced sensors and a considerably greater weapon-carrying capability," which enables it to carry laser-guided bombs as well as the Hellfire missile.
