Ukraine’s Battle-Tested Raybird Drone Tipped to Replace British Army Watchkeeper by 2027
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Ukraine’s combat-proven Raybird unmanned aircraft is being promoted as a ready replacement for the British Army’s retiring Watchkeeper system by 2027. The move could accelerate the UK’s Project Corvus program, aiming for affordable, long-endurance ISR capabilities resilient to electronic warfare.
According to information published by Forces News, on November 4, 2025, Ukraine’s Raybird unmanned aircraft is being promoted to replace the British Army’s ailing Watchkeeper, bringing a claimed 350,000 combat hours and up to 28 hours endurance to a program racing toward Project Corvus, the Army’s new Land Tactical Deep Find requirement. Forces News reports Watchkeeper is due to leave service in 2027, sharpening the case for a ready, affordable, and survivable tactical ISR platform that can be fielded quickly.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Runway-free Ukrainian ISR drone Raybird delivers 28+ hours endurance and 200 km control to 5,500 m, with EO-IR and laser designator, EW-hardened and proven in 350k+ combat hours (Picture source: Force News).
Raybird is a gasoline-powered, catapult-launched fixed-wing Group 2 system recovered by parachute onto an airbag, which removes runway dependence and compresses the logistics tail for dispersed operations. Skyeton lists a wingspan between 2.96 and 4.2 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 23 kilograms, a cruise near 110 kilometers per hour, an operating ceiling of around 5,500 meters, a data link beyond 200 kilometers, and an endurance of over 28 hours. The modular bay accepts EO/IR gimbals, a lightweight SAR, high-resolution mapping cameras, and a precision laser designator, with hot-swap in under a minute and full system assembly in roughly 25 minutes.
The wartime design choices show through in how the system fights. Skyeton highlights resilience against electronic warfare, a controlled attrition rate under 10% across hundreds of thousands of hours, and autonomous modes that allow continued operation when GPS is denied. A compact ground control station and a high-gain, encrypted directional data link with multi-frequency GNSS and controlled reception pattern antennas keep operators well behind the FEBA while sustaining positive control. In practical terms, a three-aircraft detachment can hand off coverage to maintain an all-day picture over a divisional frontage, cue artillery with the designator, and relocate quickly to reduce signature and survive Russian-style jamming and counter-battery pressure.
For the United Kingdom, those attributes map closely to Corvus. The government’s procurement notice calls for a UAS to deliver Land Tactical Deep Find with 24-hour persistent surveillance, assured data sharing across joint and coalition networks, and survivability in contested, GNSS-denied environments. The estimated 130 million pound acquisition is scheduled to start in 2026, placing a premium on ready-now, low-footprint systems. An Anglo-Ukrainian joint venture, Skyeton Prevail Solutions, has already announced UK production plans, with a proposed line in Plymouth to support Corvus and allied demand. Army Recognition has requested detailed timelines, UK workshare, spectrum approvals, and airworthiness pathways from the JV and the Ministry of Defence.
Compared with Watchkeeper, the trade is vivid. Watchkeeper WK450, derived from Hermes 450 and built by Thales’s U-TacS in Leicester, is a larger runway aircraft with typical endurance around 14 to 16 hours, a payload in the 150-kilogram class, and sensors including I-Master SAR/MTI and an EO/IR turret. It offers superior payload volume, but requires prepared surfaces, higher manpower per combat air patrol, and a heavier sustainment footprint. Watchkeeper’s out-of-service date is now set for March 2027, and its long, troubled service life has underscored the risk of exquisite, infrastructure-dependent ISR at land tactical ranges. Raybird trades big-sensor capacity for mass and persistence at lower cost, putting more eyes and laser designators into the sky with far less infrastructure.
Battlefield credibility is a core part of Raybird’s pitch. The platform’s more than 350,000 combat hours reflect sustained use under real enemy fire, while Skyeton cites survivability over 90 percent per mission and up to 200 flights per air vehicle during the war. UK-focused reporting and industry voices have drawn a broader lesson from Ukraine, arguing that Western drone fleets must iterate under real electronic attack or risk irrelevance. That view has gained traction as European and US forces watch Ukrainian units pair small, persistent ISR with artillery and EW to produce effects at sustainable cost.
Raybird aligns with the UK’s move toward dispersed, attritable land ISR. If Corvus prizes endurance, small signatures, austere basing, and resilience against jamming, a UK-built Raybird offers a credible, near-term path while the Army determines where to host heavier SAR-centric sensing across the force. That is the lesson broadcast from Ukraine’s battlefields, and the one London is now testing.
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Ukraine’s combat-proven Raybird unmanned aircraft is being promoted as a ready replacement for the British Army’s retiring Watchkeeper system by 2027. The move could accelerate the UK’s Project Corvus program, aiming for affordable, long-endurance ISR capabilities resilient to electronic warfare.
According to information published by Forces News, on November 4, 2025, Ukraine’s Raybird unmanned aircraft is being promoted to replace the British Army’s ailing Watchkeeper, bringing a claimed 350,000 combat hours and up to 28 hours endurance to a program racing toward Project Corvus, the Army’s new Land Tactical Deep Find requirement. Forces News reports Watchkeeper is due to leave service in 2027, sharpening the case for a ready, affordable, and survivable tactical ISR platform that can be fielded quickly.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Runway-free Ukrainian ISR drone Raybird delivers 28+ hours endurance and 200 km control to 5,500 m, with EO-IR and laser designator, EW-hardened and proven in 350k+ combat hours (Picture source: Force News).
Raybird is a gasoline-powered, catapult-launched fixed-wing Group 2 system recovered by parachute onto an airbag, which removes runway dependence and compresses the logistics tail for dispersed operations. Skyeton lists a wingspan between 2.96 and 4.2 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 23 kilograms, a cruise near 110 kilometers per hour, an operating ceiling of around 5,500 meters, a data link beyond 200 kilometers, and an endurance of over 28 hours. The modular bay accepts EO/IR gimbals, a lightweight SAR, high-resolution mapping cameras, and a precision laser designator, with hot-swap in under a minute and full system assembly in roughly 25 minutes.
The wartime design choices show through in how the system fights. Skyeton highlights resilience against electronic warfare, a controlled attrition rate under 10% across hundreds of thousands of hours, and autonomous modes that allow continued operation when GPS is denied. A compact ground control station and a high-gain, encrypted directional data link with multi-frequency GNSS and controlled reception pattern antennas keep operators well behind the FEBA while sustaining positive control. In practical terms, a three-aircraft detachment can hand off coverage to maintain an all-day picture over a divisional frontage, cue artillery with the designator, and relocate quickly to reduce signature and survive Russian-style jamming and counter-battery pressure.
For the United Kingdom, those attributes map closely to Corvus. The government’s procurement notice calls for a UAS to deliver Land Tactical Deep Find with 24-hour persistent surveillance, assured data sharing across joint and coalition networks, and survivability in contested, GNSS-denied environments. The estimated 130 million pound acquisition is scheduled to start in 2026, placing a premium on ready-now, low-footprint systems. An Anglo-Ukrainian joint venture, Skyeton Prevail Solutions, has already announced UK production plans, with a proposed line in Plymouth to support Corvus and allied demand. Army Recognition has requested detailed timelines, UK workshare, spectrum approvals, and airworthiness pathways from the JV and the Ministry of Defence.
Compared with Watchkeeper, the trade is vivid. Watchkeeper WK450, derived from Hermes 450 and built by Thales’s U-TacS in Leicester, is a larger runway aircraft with typical endurance around 14 to 16 hours, a payload in the 150-kilogram class, and sensors including I-Master SAR/MTI and an EO/IR turret. It offers superior payload volume, but requires prepared surfaces, higher manpower per combat air patrol, and a heavier sustainment footprint. Watchkeeper’s out-of-service date is now set for March 2027, and its long, troubled service life has underscored the risk of exquisite, infrastructure-dependent ISR at land tactical ranges. Raybird trades big-sensor capacity for mass and persistence at lower cost, putting more eyes and laser designators into the sky with far less infrastructure.
Battlefield credibility is a core part of Raybird’s pitch. The platform’s more than 350,000 combat hours reflect sustained use under real enemy fire, while Skyeton cites survivability over 90 percent per mission and up to 200 flights per air vehicle during the war. UK-focused reporting and industry voices have drawn a broader lesson from Ukraine, arguing that Western drone fleets must iterate under real electronic attack or risk irrelevance. That view has gained traction as European and US forces watch Ukrainian units pair small, persistent ISR with artillery and EW to produce effects at sustainable cost.
Raybird aligns with the UK’s move toward dispersed, attritable land ISR. If Corvus prizes endurance, small signatures, austere basing, and resilience against jamming, a UK-built Raybird offers a credible, near-term path while the Army determines where to host heavier SAR-centric sensing across the force. That is the lesson broadcast from Ukraine’s battlefields, and the one London is now testing.
