Anglo-Ukrainian joint venture Skyeton Prevail Solutions is planning further UK demonstrations of its Raybird uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) following its successful participation in the British Army’s recent Iron Titan exercise.
Held on the Salisbury Plain Training Area in the west of England from late October and throughout November, Iron Titan was the army’s largest land exercise for 20 years, with over 8,000 troops taking part.
The 23kg (50lb) Raybird was deployed for five days of the exercise, during which it was “launched from cold” in under 25min and operated at a 5.3nm (10km) reach.
During those sorties, “Raybird identified and verified multiple high-priority targets while remaining undetected”, says Skyeton Prevail.
It says “more flight operations are planned” during the first half of 2026 “to support British Army training and wider Ministry of Defence/UK government audiences”.
While the Raybird carried an electro-optical/infrared payload for the Iron Titan deployment, Skyeton Prevail intends to make available all the possible payloads for the platform from early next year.
These include electronic intelligence-gathering sensors, a synthetic aperture radar, first-person video quadcopters and gliding munitions.
Skyeton Prevail’s presence at Iron Titan was enabled by specialist training provider Soteria — part of its consortium for the forthcoming Corvus requirement, the UK’s bid to replace the British Army’s current Thales Watchkeeper reconnaissance UAV.
Currently in its early stages, Corvus is seeking a new platform “to deliver the Land Tactical Deep Find 24h persistent surveillance requirement” for the British Army; a contract could be awarded as early as 1 May 2026 under current Ministry of Defence timelines.
Should it be successful in the Corvus competition, the company has pledged to build the Raybird at a new factory in Plymouth, both for the UK and export markets.
Skyeton Prevail says it has identified a site in the city, located on England’s southwest coast, “and negotiations are under way in order to move forward”.
The Raybird has been successfully deployed in the Ukraine war where it has logged more than 350,000 combat hours.
