- March 1, 2021, 6:30 AM
End of the road: Sentinel R.Mk 1 ZJ694 lands at Waddington on February 25 to bring the type’s operational career to a close. (Photo: RAF Waddington)
The Royal Air Force’s Raytheon Sentinel surveillance fleet completed its final operation on February 25, 2021. The last aircraft flew a mission from its base at RAF Waddington in southern England, monitoring Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, and Belarus, from Polish and Lithuanian airspace. The RAF Sentinels have been frequent visitors to the Baltic airspace, often provoking a reaction from Russian Su-27 Flanker interceptors based in Kaliningrad.
The Sentinel R.Mk 1 is a radar reconnaissance version of the Bombardier Global Express business aircraft, and was tasked with providing long-range, wide-area battlefield surveillance, and with delivering critical intelligence and target-tracking. The platform was the end result of a long-running program by the UK to deploy what was originally known as a Corps Air
The tiny aircraft can be fired from a 40mm grenade launcher and be hand thrown as well. 1 minute read
British Army troops stationed in Mali are using mini-drones that can be fired from grenade launchers and are designed to carry a range of payloads.
Developed by Australian firm DefendTex, “several hundred” Drone40s have been handed over to a British Army contingent posted in the West African country as part of Operation Newcombe,
Overt Defense reported.
Newcombe is a British Army operation providing logistical support for Operation Barkhane, a French-led regional counter-terrorism effort providing peacekeeping options to the United Nation’s Mali mission.