The widely publicised crashes and delays that have long derailed the UK's unmanned Watchkeeper programme seem to be behind the MoD as it moves out with flight testing of Equipment Standard 2 (ES2) and looks forward to receipt of all 54 UAVs in Q4 2019. The first flight of the new ES2, conducted by the British Army from Boscombe Down in early July, has provided the impetus for sustained sorties to begin and push forward with consolidation of training capabilities, according to an MoD spokesperson. The advent of those flight tests will be a relief to decision-makers, who have come under fire for continued investment in a platform that last carried out an international deployment in 2014, when used as part of Operation Herrick in Afghanistan.
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