SerpApi.Org
Defence giant BAE Systems has unveiled its new ‘thunder king’ unmanned fighter drone to fly alongside RAF jets with an initial version to take to the sky next year.
The aircraft, about the size of a Hawk training jet, will act as a so-called ‘loyal wingman’ or collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) to Typhoon pilots.
This new way of fighting will see manned jets accompanied by perhaps four drones which will be able to fire lethal missiles at airborne and ground targets.
BAE has developed Brontanax – whose name derives for the ancient Greek words for ‘thunder’ and ‘king’ alongside the Royal Air Force – in a project dating back to 2022.
It has already created a fully-assembled aircraft at its Warton plant in Lancashire. BAE said the aircraft could enter service by the end of the decade.
The Brontanax was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow by new defence secretary Wes Streeting, who said it was a ‘groundbreaking moment’.
It comes after the UK committed £300m to the so-called ‘Storm Fighter’ programme to develop home grown CCAs.
BAE has already invested £400m itself in developing Brontanax, which it will aim to export to allies as well as Britain – and which will vie with rival designs from the likes of Airbus, Anduril and Boeing in an increasingly competitive market.
Streeting said it the government was adopting Brontanax as its prototype for the Stormfighter programme, adding: ‘We’re going to get it in the air in 2027.’
Air Marshal Sir Harv Smyth [corr] – head of the RAF – said: ‘Our mission is simple: to gain and maintain control of the air. Today, we do this in a vastly more complex and contested world. When we control the air, we preserve our freedom.’
Sir Gerry Mayhew, senior military advisor at BAE, said the idea was to address ‘the operational threat that is relevant now’.
It will enable a so-called ‘sixth generation’ model of fighting to take shape with the current Typhoon jet sooner – before the arrival of the Tempest fighters that are currently in development but not expected to enter service until 2035.
‘This is not a prototype – this is an operational platform that will start to evolve from its first flight in the coming 12 months,’ Mayhew said.
He also said Nato’s ‘steadfast defender’ exercise next year was ‘an opportunity for us to prove that Typhoon and CCA working collaboratively together is a real operational capability’.
BAE said ground trials would begin in the first half of next year, with the aircraft moved to an RAF site for trials in the second half.
‘This is where UK plc will demonstrate it can fly an autonomous uncrewed platform of this scale and size in UK airspace,’ said BAE’s David Holmes.
Asked about the ability of unmanned aircraft to deliver lethal weapons, Holmes said: ‘Any lethal force will have to meet the regulations set out by the government.’
