Originally Posted by
beardy
Lynxman
Thanks for the reference. Surely all new purchases in the UK would have 'Certifiable' in the name chosen by the UK. Yet this name appears to originate in the USA where a UK MOD standard is not particularly relevant.
Predator and Reaper were never certified to an airworthiness code, civil or military. In order for the UK to purchase more they have to be certifiable in order to comply with UK military airworthiness regulations, this also requires them to be compliant with Def Stan 00-970. As well as a General Atomics redesign to comply with the Def Stan to allow UK purchase, I would imagine they are also being redesigned to comply with MIL-STD-516C for the US military as well. The previous UK purchases were made under an Urgent Operational Requirement (now renamed to Urgent Capability Requirement (UCR)) so certification was required as a catch up in the post 'Urgent' environment.