“The new AR5 offers significantly improved endurance, sensor capability and reliability, ensuring that the Army maintains a battle-winning edge in surveillance and reconnaissance systems,” the UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement announcing the platform selection.
UK MoD selects Tekever AR5 as Watchkeeper replacement
The Ministry of Defence will spend up to £400 million over the next decade on Tekever’s AR5 unmanned aerial system as the successor to the Army’s Watchkeeper ISTAR drones, the MoD announced. Near-term plans call for an initial order of six AR5 airframes, with the ministry expecting to receive a fleet of up to 24 units by 2029. Entry to service is slated for later this year, contingent on contract signature and final approvals, the MoD said.
The statement also noted that the AR5 "has been utilised by Ukraine’s Armed Forces on the battlefield," framing the platform both as a domestic procurement and as a system already seeing operational use abroad.
Tekever AR5: performance specs and UK production plans
Company literature quoted in the MoD announcement lists the AR5’s core performance figures: a 50 kg (110 pound) payload capacity, a cruise speed of 100 km/h (60 mph) and a maximum endurance of 20 hours. Tekever, described in the release as a British‑Portuguese firm, will manufacture the aircraft at a new production facility planned for Swindon, England, envisioned to open in the summer of 2026.
The procurement commitment — both the purchase plan and the domestic production footprint — positions Tekever to scale manufacture in the UK if the programme follows the MoD’s stated timelines.
Watchkeeper’s decade in service and the 2024 procurement cut
Watchkeeper has been in British service for more than a decade, but the programme suffered a policy reversal in late 2024. In November 2024 the MoD cancelled a planned acquisition of 46 additional Watchkeeper airframes as part of broader equipment cuts intended to deliver £500 million in savings over five years. At the time, then‑UK Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Military Capability) Lt. Gen. Robert Magowan told lawmakers in December 2024 that the MoD had learned from the Ukraine war that Watchkeeper was “no longer fit for operational purpose,” and that the ministry was “working really hard” with the Army to get a replacement by 2025.
Thales UK, Watchkeeper’s manufacturer, told FlightGlobal that London’s decision to cut the platform was “disappointing,” while adding it was “proud of Watchkeeper’s success in Afghanistan, support to Border Force and, most recently, being deployed in Estonia.”
RAF StormShroud and Tekever’s broader drone work
The AR5 selection follows other recent UK moves involving Tekever systems. The MoD statement comes roughly a year after the Royal Air Force’s first autonomous collaborative platform (ACP), labelled StormShroud and also built by Tekever, entered service. StormShroud combines Tekever’s AR3 tactical aerial system with Leonardo UK’s BriteStorm stand‑in jammer, giving it suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) capabilities and the ability to operate in tandem with RAF fighter jets in contested airspace.
The AR5 deal therefore sits alongside a growing set of Tekever‑linked programmes that the MoD emphasised for their improved endurance, sensor suites and mission roles.
How the British Army, Tekever, and Ukraine’s Armed Forces are affected
- British Army: The Army gains an ISTAR replacement the MoD characterises as having “significantly improved endurance, sensor capability and reliability,” with deliveries expected to ramp toward a potential fleet of 24 airframes by 2029 — subject to contract and approvals.
- Tekever and UK defence industry: Tekever will expand UK production with a Swindon facility planned for summer 2026, and stands to fulfil a multi‑year contract worth up to £400 million, contingent on final signatures and schedules.
- Ukraine’s Armed Forces: The MoD highlighted that the AR5 has been used by Ukraine, underscoring the platform’s operational provenance in ongoing contested environments, which the ministry cited in justifying the AR5’s capabilities.
The immediate next steps named in the MoD statement are straightforward: finalise contract signatures and obtain the remaining approvals required for entry to service later this year, and bring the Swindon production line into operation in the summer of 2026. The announcement did not explain why an earlier objective — a 2025 replacement timetable referenced by Lt. Gen. Magowan in 2024 — was not met, though the MoD noted that delays to the publication of its Defence Investment Plan could be a contributing factor. The ministry had not responded to a request for on‑the‑record comment at the time of the announcement.
Original reporting: https://breakingdefense.com/2026/07/uk-selects-tekever-ar5-surveillance-drones-to-succeed-watchkeeper/
