The Sentinel R1 ground station returns from Afghanistan
After more than six years of continuous service supporting operations in Afghanistan RAF intelligence analysts have now moved out of Camp Bastion.
Personnel from V(AC) Squadron who interpret data from Sentinel R1 surveillance aircraft, translating it into useful information for ground force commanders, packed up their ground station (seen here on a C-17) before returning to the UK.
However the move doesn’t impact operations as developments in the aircraft’s satellite communications enable it to continue to carry out reconnaissance missions over Afghanistan, transmitting data elsewhere for analysis.
Over the past few months the unit’s equipment has been gradually packed and moved back to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
Read more about the Sentinel and ASTOR…
[browser-shot width=”600″ url=”https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2013/01/raf-sentinel-quick-look/”]
In the old thread on Watchkeeper (now locked to how it was in 2012) there was interesting stuff on the co-/ re-use of these groundstations for Watchkeeper
– any updates?
– they are also interoperable with the American JSTARS, I seem to remember?
Let’s just hope that they can find a few more pennies down the back of the MOD couch to keep the Sentinel in service after 2015. It would be a drying shame to lose it.
Did the single a/c for Mali really transit every time?
What’s wrong with Gib? Yes,maintenance takes specialist gear, butyou don’t domaintenance beteen every mission.