The United Kingdom will make a new attempt to create a combat unmanned aerial vehicle.
What
Known
The UK Department of Defense is tryinginvolve companies in the development of low-cost unmanned aerial systems that should work alongside fighter jets. Moreover, the agency wants the new drone to be able to function in tandem with aircraft of three generations at once - the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B Lightning II and Tempest (a promising sixth generation fighter). The company BAE Systems is working on the development of the latter. It is expected to be ready in 2035.
At present, there is no information at all aboutnew project. The UK Department of Defense emphasizes that the program will be of interest to companies that specialize in the development and production of drones, power plants, navigation, communications systems and electronic warfare systems. We will find out more details on November 29th.
Note that the Department of Defense of the UnitedKingdoms spent several months developing a drone that would work with three generations of fighters, including the next one. The work was carried out as part of the Mosquito program.
At the beginning of 2021 Spirit AeroSystemsBelfast, Northrop Grumman UK and Intrepid Minds have secured £30m in funding to build the drone. The first flight of the drone was scheduled for 2023, but the project was closed in the summer of 2022 due to the availability of more affordable alternatives.