Snooperbase Waddington

The air base at Waddington has been home to the RAF’s most valuable surveillance, intelligence-gathering, communications and electronic warfare assets for more than three decades.

During the 1990s, Boeing E-3D Sentry AWACS and Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R1 signals intelligence platforms became familiar sights in the skies over Lincolnshire as ISTAR (Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) assets were brought together at RAF Waddington.

The Raytheon Sentinel R1 followed and more recently the base has become home to the RAF fleet of Beechcraft Shadow R1s, Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joints and General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers – as well as the Red Arrows aerobatic team and units experimenting with future drone technology. Most recently, the base has received its first General Atomics Protector RG Mk 1s to take up the roles performed by the now 15-year-old Reaper fleet.

In Snooperbase Waddington, author and photographer Michael Hiley chronicle’s the history of the RAF’s ISTAR hub – including the aircraft flown, their known equipment and their operational use as far as the Official Secrets Act will allow.