Britain to turn Warrior armoured vehicles into drones

The Ministry of Defence has set out plans to repurpose surplus Warrior infantry fighting vehicles into remotely or autonomously operated minefield-breaching platforms, under Project ATILLA.

According to a Prior Information Notice published on 21 August, “under Project ATTILA, the Authority are seeking to de-risk and accelerate future procurement of an attritable, modular, autonomous, heavy payload UG by exploiting current in-service vehicles within a time and cost bound contract. This contract seeks to procure and spirally develop an optionally crewed minefield breaching system based on WARRIOR, capable of being used in the UK and overseas by Royal Engineers.”

The Ministry stated that “the Authority requires an optionally crewed attritable minefield breaching capability that can be spirally developed to de-risk and accelerate future procurement of a modular, autonomous, heavy payload Uncrewed Ground Vehicle.”

The project is structured into two concurrent phases under a single contract.

• “Phase 1. Procurement of a Minimum Deployable (MDY) of up to six optionally crewed systems based on an in-service donor vehicle (WARRIOR) with Front End Equipment (FEE) for use as a Battlegroup (BG) minefield breaching capability.”
• “Phase 2. Development and iteration of MDC to move from remote to autonomous operation and refine requirements for future UGV procurement.”

Suppliers will face a strict entry test. The notice makes clear that “suppliers will be asked to confirm as part of their PSQ response that they are able to provide six optionally crewed minefield breaching systems able to generate a safe lane comparable to current in-service platforms (details to be provided as part of the PSQ). This section will be PASS/FAIL – suppliers who are unable to provide this capability in the timelines requested will be discounted from the competition.”

The contract is valued at £12 million and is set to run from January 2026 to March 2028, with an optional one-year extension at the MoD’s discretion.

Why Warrior?

The analysis behind Project ATILLA is straightforward. Warrior, once the backbone of the Army’s armoured infantry, is being retired from frontline service. That leaves the MoD with a stock of heavy tracked hulls that still have considerable mobility, armour, and payload capacity. Instead of scrapping them, the plan is to convert Warriors into optionally crewed uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs).

The concept is to fit Warriors with front-end breaching equipment such as ploughs, rollers, or line charges. These would allow them to carve lanes through minefields, pushing through obstacles while either being operated conventionally with a crew or remotely controlled. Over time, as autonomy matures, the systems would move closer to fully uncrewed operation.

This approach provides several advantages:

• It avoids the long delays and high costs of designing a bespoke UGV from scratch.
• Warrior’s weight and protection make it survivable against mine detonations.
• The tracked chassis provides the necessary mobility to breach obstacles and rough terrain.
• By keeping the option for a crew, the vehicles can be fielded and tested before autonomous systems are fully mature.

Spiral development

Project ATILLA is designed as a “spiral development” programme: take an existing platform, adapt it to current needs, deploy a minimum capability, and then iterate. The six vehicles planned for Phase 1 would form a Minimum Deployable Capability, giving the Royal Engineers a heavy, attritable tool for minefield breaching. At the same time, they would act as testbeds for doctrine, technology, and operations, helping to refine requirements for a future purpose-built UGV fleet.

By Phase 2, the focus would be on “development and iteration of MDC to move from remote to autonomous operation and refine requirements for future UGV procurement.” Lessons learned from the converted Warriors could then shape a new generation of modular, heavy UGVs designed from the ground up.

The broader context

The MoD’s wording is clear that this project addresses a pressing operational gap: the need for an “attritable” minefield breaching vehicle. Attritability implies that the vehicles are expected to operate in highly dangerous conditions where losses are likely. Making them optionally crewed means they can take risks without necessarily putting soldiers inside.

The approach reflects a broader shift in Western militaries toward uncrewed ground systems capable of tackling some of the most hazardous battlefield roles. In this case, Warriors converted under ATILLA would act as a bridge between traditional armoured engineering vehicles and the fully autonomous heavy UGVs the Army may seek in the 2030s.

In blunt terms, looking back at my headline, I truly believe “Warrior drones” is not inaccurate. Six retired infantry fighting vehicles could soon be fitted with ploughs and rollers, stripped of their turrets, and sent into minefields under remote or autonomous control. What begins as a stopgap could mark the start of a longer-term transformation in how the Army approaches combat engineering and high-risk battlefield tasks.

We also now know why they are not going to Ukraine.

UK again rules out sending Warrior vehicles to Ukraine

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