The UK has revealed the first details of a new £156 million military drone surveillance system in a contract notice for Project CORVUS, the replacement for the much-derided Watchkeeper programme.

CORVUS will manage a Land Tactical Deep Find system capable of delivering 24 hour “persistent surveillance” through two “task lines”, the term given to a single flight or mission by a drone.

The Ministry of Defence’s procurement department DE&S said: “The solution must be of a high readiness level, be technologically agile, and capable of undergoing spiral development in future years to meet continuously evolving requirements.”

CORVUS capabilities

The new system must be able to conduct intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations, and track land and maritime targets in real-time.

Other stipulations include an ability to provide secure communication to disseminate ISTAR information and launch at short notice and sustain operations “without any degradation.”

DE&S also said CORVUS should be able to recover the vehicles for subsequent missions, an area Watchkeeper saw particular scrutiny on after losing seven of its 54 drones in crashes often blamed on the “all weather” vehicles’ inability to cope with poor weather.

What happened to Watchkeeper?

The Watchkeeper drones, built by a joint venture between Thales UK and Elbit systems UK, were retired in March of this year after the UK’s Defence Secretary John Healey revealed in November the programme would be halted as part of wider military reforms.

While Healey said the army would “rapidly switch to a new advanced capability”, the procurement notice for CORVUS details a December 2025 start date for the contract, though DE&S notes tenderers will “be required to conduct a live demonstration of their capability.”

It also said the contract will last at least five years to December 2030 but may also be extended to December 2035, The Stack has asked DE&S if the contracts will expand beyond its initial scope in this time.

See also: Ministry of Defence’s £2.1 billion IT spend - cyber skills “pinch” revealed

In any case the MoD will be hoping for a much quicker turnaround with CORVUS after Watchkeeper faced a barrage of criticism after taking 14 years from its launch in 2000 to receive military certification.

As a result, the programme was described as being unfit for purpose before the first drones even took to the sky, with smaller, more tactile drones seen doing its job more efficiently in war zones such as those in Ukraine, leading defence officials to declare Watchkeeper was "no longer fit for operational purposes."

Watchkeeper also saw its costs balloon from £700 million to £1.35 billion by 2023, something DE&S is clearly keen to avoid as it said CORVUS should be able to “remain relevant with evolving threats.”

The department also stipulated CORVUS must operate with “no additional workforce” from 47 Regiment Royal Artillery, the group responsible for Watchkeeper and confirmed to be maintaining responsibility for its predecessor in December.

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