London: In a move to replace Reaper drones in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Britain’s Ministry of Defence has signed a deal with General Atomics for the first three Protector remotely piloted air vehicles.

A £65 million (US US$80 million) contract for three Protectors, the British version of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian was announced by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace during a virtual air power conference held by the RAF on July 15.

Protector will fly further, hit harder and crucially be able to fly in unsegregated civilian airspace compared with the Reaper vehicles widely used by the British in Afghanistan and the West Asia over the last several years.

Three ground stations and other associated support equipment are also included in an initial deal that will see the first vehicle delivered next year.

The initial vehicle will remain in the United States for test and evaluation until 2023, ahead of deploying to its UK base at RAF Waddington, eastern England.

The drone able to fly for up to 40 hours is expected to enter service in 2024.

The aircraft will be armed with MBDA’s Brimstone missile and Raytheon UK’s Paveway IV precision-guided bomb, enhanced data links and detect-and-avoid technology.

The deal for Protector production includes an option on a further purchase of 13 drones.

The cost of purchasing the remaining drones is put at around £180 million, or US$230 million.

The MoD spokesperson said consideration is also being given to an additional acquisition of drones over and above the 16 vehicles already envisaged.

A total force of more than 20 Protectors was envisaged in the Conservative government’s 2015 strategic defence and security review.

In announcing the deal defence secretary Ben Wallace said, “Protector will provide the RAF with vast global reach, meeting the UK’s defence and security needs for decades to come, and provide another increase to the unmanned inventory for the armed forces.“