Overview
- Between late September and mid‑October the unarmed Protector RG1 flew operationally over the English Channel and provided more than ten hours of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance alongside Royal Navy ships and helicopters.
- The Ministry of Defence and Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said this was the first time a Protector has joined Royal Navy vessels and helicopters to monitor activity around UK shores.
- The Protector RG Mk1 can loiter for up to about 40 hours, reach high altitude and carry sensors that give persistent coverage that analysts say is cheaper than rotating manned patrols.
- Officials tie the stepped‑up monitoring to near‑daily Russian naval activity and a ‘shadow fleet’ of sanctioned tankers that moved oil through or near UK waters, noting British forces seized a sanctioned tanker earlier this year.
- Defence figures warn that while drones extend surveillance they do not solve shortfalls in ships, crews, anti‑submarine assets or counter‑drone systems and are driving calls for more patrols, seabed monitoring and investment to protect critical infrastructure such as undersea cables.