The UK Ministry of Defence has procured more than 250 mini surveillance drones for the armed forces, including foldable ones weighing just over 2.5kg.
The small, packable Indago drone and the Stalker, a near-silent drone weighing 20kg and providing more than eight hours of images, will be operational by the end of 2024.
The new remotely piloted systems will help UK troops find and identify targets and gather intelligence, replacing the mini uncrewed aerial systems.
Lockheed Martin UK was awarded a £129 million ($157 million) contract to deliver the drones, supporting jobs at the company and in the supply chain for the next decade, the ministry said.
“As the global threat changes, it’s crucial we remain at the forefront of innovation, delivering cutting-edge capabilities to our deployed forces," said defence procurement minister Alex Chalk.
“This is another fantastic example of British industry supporting UK defence technology.”
Drone Photo Awards 2022 - in pictures
-
With the aerial shot which shows the hard work of some labourers in a salt pan in Habra, India, photographer Saurabh Sirohiya wins in the Abstract category. -
An evocative encounter between the desert dunes and the South Atlantic Ocean, photographed by Swiss photographer David Rouge, won first place in the Nature category. -
The People category was won by Bangladeshi photographer Anindita Roy, with an image from Dhaka taken on the Buriganga River. -
This image titled 'Big Bang', immortalised by French photographer Armand Sarlangue, is the overall winner of Drone Photo Awards 2022. It shows a secondary fissure happening a few hundred metres from the main crater of Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland. -
Russian photographer Dmitry Kokh with 'Abandoned Weather Station' won in the Storyboard category. All photos: Drone Photo Awards 2022 -
First place in the Urban category was won by Ukrainian photographer Serhiy Vovk, with this photo of rooftops as far as the eye can see, in Kartoffelraekkerne neighbourhood, in Copenhagen. -
An aerial view of the participants of the Bieg Piastow ski event held in Poland, by Polish photographer Daniel Koszela, won in the Sports category. -
Polish photographer Krzysztof Krawczyk won first place in the Wedding category with a photo which portrays the sun's rays on a body of water, a felled tree and a daring bride lying on top. -
Lots of flamingos close to each other are the protagonists of the aerial shot by Iranian photographer Mehdi Mohebi Pour, winner in the Wildlife category.
