MQ-9 Reaper / Sky Guardian over RAF Waddington

[Tally-ho]

What a splendid afternoon in the surrounds of RAF Waddington. First the return of ZH101, RAF 'Sentry', from an outing around Norfolk. Followed by three passes of the MQ-9 Reaper / Sky Guardian, itself being chased by what I presume was a heliborne photoshoot opportunity. Greatly grand!
I will post one or two more pictures later after I've done some sorting and editing.

[reaper493]

Well caught! Did it actually land before heading back out to sea with the helicopter?

Ads shows it as an Mq-9a Reaper, but this aircraft is an MQ-9B Sky Guardian, the bit underneath is the Maritime radar kit that will be used when it's integrated with P8 when it heads up north.

Looking forward to the rest,

Mike

[Skywatcher]

I like that ,nice one
Cheers for sharing much appreciated
All the best
Max

[Tally-ho]

@reaper493
Thanks. I left after the third pass, seeing as I had my shots, so don't know what happened afterwards. I stuck with the MQ-9A name for now, but yes you are right, down the line it will become the RAF 'Protector'.

@Skywatcher
Thank you.

[SubZeroSteve]

What a super capture, I look forward to seeing more, I've been following this for the last two days on adsb/FR24, nice to see it in the flesh (so to speak)

[Seacat192]

Good catch

[Tally-ho]

Thank you for the positive comments!

As promised, hereby two more pictures of this event - a MQ-9B Sky Guardian (N190TC) being ogled by a AS355 Squirrel (G-NETR). Wheels up on the first and wheels down on the second. An afternoon to be remembered!

Height of the aircraft at the time was 1,500ft AGL; 300mm lens and full crop, so some loss of quality.


On approach into #02 RAF Waddington

[Tally-ho]

Having gone through all my pictures taken on the day, I thought to place this last close-up as it gives a view onto the underside, showing landing gear retracted and the RAF specific maritime radar installation. RAF Protector RG Mk 1 in the making.

[Skywatcher]

Some cracking additions there ,much appreciated,I saw her ott here this evening at 21,000 ft ,so chuffed with that ,nice to see some additional pics from Waddington
The final pic is the favourite for me
Cheers for sharing
All the best
Max

[PeterR]

2021-09-07 N190TC MQ-9B Waddington 084 p+1 2 by par1938, on Flickr

2021-09-07 N190TC MQ-9B Waddington 089 p+1 2 by par1938, on Flickr

2021-09-07 N190TC MQ-9B Waddington 094 p+1 2 by par1938, on Flickr

2021-09-07 ZZ417 Shadow R1 14Sqn Waddington 029 p+1 2 by par1938, on Flickr

[matt e]

Great catch especially 1 and 2

[Jackonicko]

The radar is not RAF-specific, nor even specified by the RAF at this point. This prototype is in SeaGuardian configuration, and Protector will be based on SkyGuardian - albeit with different wingtips to house unspecified kit.