Congratulations due to the two-man NPAS team [Paul Watts and Pete Botchett] who presented the 'Future of police aviation in the UK' to a full house audience at Helitech this morning. They managed to turn a pretty well worn pigs ear into something not quite a silk purse on the basis of not a lot and a very dated video.
The future it seems is BVLOS drones to replace the fixed wing fleet and eventually the rotary wing. Subject to a suitable type capable of Sense and Avoid [that so far has not been demonstrated as a done deal].
Unfortunately the type is not identified, but the RAF are about to take delivery of a nice thing with the comforting name Protector which I guess is about £100M a go, but NPAS will have to fund the upgrade of it to twin engines of course to meet the current requirements.
Another FIKI I guess.
There is of course one other option that already has twin engines, the Portuguese Tekever, but I am not sure that it would be too welcome over my house from reports received.
I do think that Protector RG Mk 1 (MQ-9B) is a much more cosy name than the earlier General Atomics Reaper (MQ-9A) and Predator... Ahhhhh. The police would further smooth out the name and perhaps call it a Cressida....