The Ministry of Defence is reviewing the regulatory system governing the testing of uncrewed and autonomous systems, and says sandbox measures in a Bill currently before Parliament would significantly help the department’s testing capabilities.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge asked what assessment the department had made of the impact of the regulatory approval process on testing such systems.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard replied on 8 July: “The Ministry of Defence launched a review of the regulatory system governing uncrewed and autonomous systems in defence in February 2026, inviting contributions from industry and the wider public. Defence is committed to reforming regulation to ease the burden on industry and drive innovation.” He added: “The Regulating for Growth Bill contains sandbox measures that would greatly assist defence’s testing abilities for uncrewed and autonomous systems.”
A regulatory sandbox typically allows a defined set of tests or products to be trialled under relaxed or bespoke rules, monitored by a regulator, without waiting for full-scale regulatory clearance, an approach already used in sectors such as financial services.
Applying the concept to defence would let developers of drones and autonomous vehicles test capabilities in real conditions before every regulatory question is settled, addressing a complaint often raised by industry that certification and airspace or safety approval processes were designed for conventional crewed platforms and now lag behind the pace of uncrewed development.
Here we go.
The RN released a video on instagram the other day showing off the hybrid navy. One of the drivers concepts that stood out to me was very reminiscent of the WW1/2 monitors. Basically a big ass gun on a small platform, wonder if the RN are reconsidering NGFS.
That video was purr AI slop, someone in the RN should get a telling off for putting that out.
It shows you that they didn’t bother to reviewing it to rush it out fir the NATO summit.
That video was pure AI slop, someone in the RN should get a telling off for putting that out.