RAF leads NATO Protector knowledge-sharing event at Waddington

Air May 6, 2026

The Royal Air Force on Wednesday 29 April announced the conclusion of the first RAF-led knowledge-sharing event for the Protector remotely piloted aircraft, hosted at RAF Waddington from 16 to 27 March.

The event, which the RAF describes as a Short Look, brought twelve military personnel from Canada, Denmark and Norway into the heart of the UK’s Protector enterprise for direct exposure to aircrew and engineer training, weapons systems, intelligence support and cyber operations.

The UK drew on its own experience of bringing Protector – the British variant of the General Atomics MQ-9B SkyGuardian – into service, and on lessons from its first operational deployment over the Middle East in November 2025. The event runs under the framework of the MQ-9 International Co-operation Support Partnership (ICSP), the multinational structure that supports allied nations in planning and procuring the Protector system more efficiently and helps them avoid duplication.

“By sharing lessons learned, the UK is helping partners avoid duplication, reduce risk and strengthen NATO’s collective capability,” the RAF said in its statement, framing the event as part of the UK Government’s wider commitment to NATO as the foundation of national security and a core part of its Plan for Change.

The supply-chain implications are substantial. Protector has a deep UK industrial footprint at Cobham (sensors and signal intelligence integration), GE Aerospace (engine), L3Harris (mission systems), Marshall and a network of UK SMEs supplying the airframe through General Atomics Aeronautical Systems UK. RAF-led ICSP events accelerate allied procurement decisions and de-risk subcontracting routes for UK industry partners selling into Canadian, Danish and Norwegian Protector programmes – each of which is at a different stage of decision-making but all of which look at UK Protector lessons learned as a baseline.

The RAF says it will continue to host Short Look events for partner nations as more countries move towards adopting the Protector system. For UK defence supply-chain, that signals a sustained pipeline of allied programme touchpoints – and a clear commercial reason to remain visible to General Atomics UK and Cobham’s Protector teams.