The UK continues to assess its requirement to field autonomous collaborative platforms (ACPs) as part of a broader Future Combat Air System (FCAS), despite having shelved an earlier technology demonstrator effort.
A “loyal wingman”-type unmanned combat aircraft had been in development under Project Mosquito for the Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Rapid Capabilities Office, but that work was halted in mid-2023 before a demonstrator was flown. The £30 million ($40 million) activity had involved Northrop Grumman UK and Spirit AeroSystems’ Belfast unit.
“What we didn’t want to do is go after something right now in the FCAS programme that in five years’ time is out of date,” says Group Captain Andrew Coe, the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) deputy programme director, FCAS.
The UK’s FCAS activity currently covers three lines: a core, sixth-generation manned platform named Tempest – being advanced through the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) with joint partners Italy and Japan; ACPs; and overarching system of systems elements including advanced datalinks.
“In the ACPs bit, we have a concepting line,” Coe said during a presentation to the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Heathrow Branch on 17 April. “We have still got scientists and personnel working for the Royal Air Force, MoD and Dstl [Defence Science and Technology Laboratory], constantly looking at that and where we’re going with it.
“We know we need them, but we are still assessing where we are going to go with that,” he says.
BAE Systems early last year confirmed plans to fly an ACP demonstrator in 2026, with the activity being advanced by its FalconWorks advanced technology unit.
Coe envisions the Tempest as acting in a “quarterback” role, accompanied by ACPs, with its piloted nature being of operational importance.
“AI [artificial intelligence] is going to help a bit, but we cannot guarantee at the moment that environment,” he says of producing an unmanned platform at the heart of FCAS. “But in the future, you might look at that capsule [cockpit] and say: ‘that’s another tonne’s-worth of fuel’. Then maybe you could have four Tempests: three uncrewed and one crewed.”
“Some of that stuff is being built in right now into the design of the aircraft,” he adds.
Published in February 2024, the MoD’s Defence Drone Strategy revealed that the RAF was “testing cost-effective autonomous collaborative platforms designed to leverage cutting edge technology to support high-risk combat operations”.
“The ACP programme has a range of experimental and development platforms able to deliver strategic effects at range,” it added, without disclosing further details.
Elsewhere, the US Air Force is advancing the first phase of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme, with Anduril Industries and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems due to fly prototypes for the first time later this year. And Canberra is moving ahead with development trials involving its Boeing Defence Australia-developed MQ-28 Ghost Bat.
France, which is jointly developing a sixth-generation fighter with Germany and Spain, last year announced plans to field an unmanned combat air vehicle capability ahead of the arrival of its future strike platform, which is due to enter use around 2040.
The potential scale of the UK’s Tempest commitment has not been detailed, but Italian industrial lead Leonardo last month suggested that “350 platform orders for the entire joint venture are expected by 2035”, among the GCAP partners.
Once published later this year, the MoD’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is likely to provide fresh insight into its future fleet plans around the developmental Tempest – targeted for service introduction from 2035 – and an expected follow-on buy of the Lockheed Martin F-35.
“After the SDR there will be a bit more clarity… [about] what we need for the future,” Coe indicates.
The UK currently has around 35 short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs in use, from a firm commitment for 48. But with a long-held programme of requirement for up to 138 of the stealthy jets, future batches could potentially be acquired in the conventional take-off and landing A-model guise, which has a lower unit cost and increased range and payload.
