{"id":6564857,"date":"2026-07-21T11:04:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/raf-protector-rg1-paveway-brimstone-weapons-qualification-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:55:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:55:33","slug":"raf-protector-rg1-paveway-brimstone-weapons-qualification-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/raf-protector-rg1-paveway-brimstone-weapons-qualification-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain&#8217;s New Drone Finally Gets Its Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><\/p>\r\n<p>When the Royal Air Force retired its last Reaper in the autumn of 2025, it did so with a gap in the middle of its capability. The replacement was already flying \u2014 the Protector RG Mk\u00a01, sixteen of them on order \u2014 but it could not yet legally drop or fire anything.<\/p>\r\n<p>At Farnborough on Monday, General Atomics announced that the gap has closed. Weapons qualification testing for the Paveway IV guided bomb and the Brimstone 3 missile was completed on 18 June, in Southern California, after a programme of work that has run for roughly six years across two governments and several companies.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is a less dramatic milestone than it sounds, and a more important one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f5f5f5; padding: 20px 24px; margin: 24px 0; border-radius: 8px;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px; color: #222;\">Informazioni rapide<\/p>\r\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6;\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Aeromobili<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">Protector RG Mk\u00a01 \u2014 the RAF designation for the General Atomics MQ-9B<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Annunciato<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">20 July 2026 at the Farnborough International Airshow. Testing was completed on 18 June 2026<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Weapons cleared<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">Raytheon UK Paveway IV guided bomb and MBDA Brimstone 3 missile<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Dove<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">General Atomics facilities in Southern California<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Flotta<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">16 Protectors on order, replacing a fleet of 10 MQ-9A Reapers<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Operatore<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">No. 31 Squadron at RAF Waddington, reformed for the type in October 2023<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Certification<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">Received a Military Type Certificate from the UK Military Aviation Authority in 2025 \u2014 the first large uncrewed aircraft to hold one<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 12px 5px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Still pending<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 5px 0; color: #222;\">Initial Operating Capability had not been declared as of early 2026<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">What \"weapons qualification\" actually means<\/h2>\r\n<p>This is not the RAF announcing that it has started bombing things with Protector. It is an airworthiness clearance \u2014 the long, unglamorous process of proving that a weapon can be carried safely, released safely, and will separate cleanly from the airframe without coming back to hit it.<\/p>\r\n<p>Get it wrong and the aircraft destroys itself. Which is why it takes years, and why nobody skips it.<\/p>\r\n<p>What makes this instance unusual is who ran it. General Atomics says this was the first time it has led weapons qualification testing on behalf of a customer, rather than a government test organisation doing the work. For a company that has built its business on selling the same airframe family to a long list of nations, that is a capability worth having.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cThe Royal Air Force is our MQ-9B launch customer and we\u2019re here to support them in any way we can. Leading the qualification test was a unique experience and we\u2019re excited to complete the process so successfully for the RAF\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>David R. Alexander<\/strong> \u2014 President, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px; width: 100%;\"><img data-opt-id=1541276845  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto; max-width: 100%; display: block; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/raf-protector-rg1-31-squadron-akrotiri.jpg\" alt=\"RAF Protector RG Mk 1 of No. 31 Squadron during an engine run\" width=\"1024\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">A No. 31 Squadron Protector RG Mk\u00a01 during a practice engine run, part of its work-up for Operation SHADER. Photo: UK MoD \/ Crown Copyright<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Two very British weapons<\/h2>\r\n<p>The pairing chosen says something about how the RAF expects to use the aircraft. Paveway IV is the service's standard precision bomb, a roughly 500\u00a0lb-class weapon with GPS and laser guidance that has been dropped from Typhoons and Tornados across two decades of operations. Brimstone 3 is the current generation of a missile designed for exactly the problem Reaper crews spent years wrestling with: hitting a moving vehicle without destroying the street it is driving down.<\/p>\r\n<p>Neither is an American weapon, which is the point. Protector is an American airframe carrying a British weapons fit, certified to British airworthiness standards, and the six-year programme behind it existed largely to make that combination legal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #1565c0; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cThe completion of U.S.-based safe-separation weapons testing is a landmark achievement for the Protector RG Mk1. It demonstrates not only the maturity of the platform, but also the ability of the programme to integrate advanced weapons with a cutting-edge, certified remotely piloted air system, delivering benefits to both the UK and our partners\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Group Captain Rob Evans<\/strong> \u2014 Royal Air Force Programme Director<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px; margin: 0 auto 28px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 400px; border: none; border-radius: 12px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2069520379639373833&amp;theme=light\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The bit that has not happened yet<\/h2>\r\n<p>Protector formally entered RAF service in June 2025 and has already deployed \u2014 imagery released by the Ministry of Defence this year shows aircraft operating from Cyprus, including at least one carrying a live Paveway IV well before this qualification was finished, which suggests an urgent operational clearance was granted along the way. The MoD has not commented on that.<\/p>\r\n<p>But Initial Operating Capability still has not been declared. In a written parliamentary answer in January, defence minister Luke Pollard confirmed the type had yet to reach those milestones.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Reaper it replaces flew for eighteen years and logged more than 173,000 hours before XIII Squadron put the last one away. Protector is bigger, flies further, and \u2014 uniquely for an aircraft of its size \u2014 is certified to share airspace with civil traffic rather than being confined to segregated corridors.<\/p>\r\n<p>Now it can also carry the weapons it was bought to carry. What it does not yet have is a date for when that becomes an operational capability rather than a certified one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nX322o_jplU\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: -8px; font-style: italic;\">Protector RG Mk\u00a01 at RAF Waddington, its home station.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Sources: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Aviation Week, UK Defence Journal, The Aviationist, Royal Air Force.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f0f4ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 16px 20px; margin: 32px 0 8px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; font-weight: 600; color: #333;\">Post correlati<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/usaf-mq-9-reaper-replacement-affordable-mass-drone-2026\/\">Il cielo \u00e8 scomparso per il mietitore. Cosa succeder\u00e0 ora?<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/uk-5-billion-autonomous-drones-defence-investment-plan-2026\/\">The UK's Drones Won't Always Ask Permission to Fire<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/uk-298-billion-defence-investment-plan-sixth-gen\/\">Britain's 298 Billion Bet on the Next War<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Atomics announced at Farnborough that the RAF Protector RG Mk 1 has completed safe-separation testing with Paveway IV and Brimstone 3, closing a six-year certification programme.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":6563579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6564857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Protector RG Mk1 Completes Weapons Testing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The RAF Protector RG Mk1 has completed Paveway IV and Brimstone 3 safe-separation testing, closing a six-year certification programme.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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Sqn functions as a test, evaluation, and tactics development unit for the RAF's next generation remotely piloted air system, the Protector. 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