A consortium led by Thales Defence has been awarded preferred bidder status for the Government's £800m Watchkeeper programme developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Geoff Hoon with Thales' CEO

Bidding with Thales for the contract is Elbit Systems, a defence electronics specialist.

They are supported by UK-based firms including Cobham, Cubic, LogicaCMG, Praxis, Qinetiq, Vega and Marshall SV.