A British company has successfully flight-tested a new long-range strike drone under a Ministry of Defence programme to field affordable deep-strike weapons quickly.
Rotron Aerospace said the trial of its SkyLance one-way effector, carried out under the MoD’s Project BRAKESTOP and funded through Taskforce Kindred, had validated the core technologies underpinning the system and demonstrated the value of agile, industry-led defence innovation. The firm described the flight as a major step forward in next-generation long-range strike capability, achieved through collaboration between the MoD, wider government, the science and engineering company QinetiQ and industry partners.
The company said the programme had already led it to create more than 160 highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom’s defence aerospace sector, strengthening sovereign industrial capability while supporting specialist engineering, manufacturing and technology expertise. It argued that its lean operating model, rapid development cycles and competitive cost base allowed it to deliver advanced capabilities at significantly lower cost than many prime contractors, offering better value for the taxpayer while accelerating delivery.
A key differentiator of the SkyLance system, according to Rotron, is its propulsion technology, which the company said delivered a substantially greater operational range than rival solutions in its class, and which is designed, developed and manufactured entirely within the United Kingdom to ensure complete sovereign control over the critical technology and its future development.
The chief executive of Rotron Aerospace, Alex Head, called Project BRAKESTOP “one of the most innovative programmes the UK MoD has delivered in recent years”, saying collaboration between the MoD, wider government, QinetiQ and industry had been critical to its success. The programme proved, he said, that “agile UK SMEs can deliver complex defence capability at pace”, often outperforming traditional procurement models, and added that initiatives like BRAKESTOP create “capability, jobs and export opportunity” of a kind the United Kingdom needed more of to maintain its technological advantage.
Rotron set out an ambitious view of the commercial prize, saying it believed every pound invested by the MoD in defence innovation could generate more than ten times that sum in future export revenue as global demand for affordable long-range strike capabilities grows, delivering economic returns while strengthening partnerships with allied nations.
Founded in the United Kingdom in 2008, Rotron develops unmanned aerial systems, autonomous platforms and propulsion technologies, and earlier this year became a subsidiary of the Nasdaq-listed autonomy and communications group Ondas following the completion of its acquisition.
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If this company is now a subsidiary of the much larger Ondas, does the UK still retain total control of this technology (particularly the propulsion tech)?
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Indeed, critical that it remains outside the ITAR restrictions to enable exports to friends of the UK so getting a reasonable return on investment..
Since 2008?
And what has the MoD actually bought from it all this time?
To my rough count of types, we keep buying American.
They haven’t always been a military manufacturer. Bear Grylls co-founded it because he needed a more efficient rotary engine to be able to fly a paramotor over the peak of Mount Everest, and those rotary engines have been the main product since, powering UAVs like Leonardo’s AWHero. It’s only recently that they began building their own airframes to go with the engines.
That’s fair enough. I look forward to a 10k order and an entire Regiment of the RA to be so equipped, 3 or 4 Batteries, to be outlined in the DIP. Subject to finding people to operate them as there is no uplift in numbers.
I’ll wait to see what actually transpires.
great, so we have a unique lower cost long-range strike weapon. Excellent. Now how many will the MOD commit too and which units will field this weapon system?
unless these “projects” result in tangible hardware and military capability then they are just a spaff of cash over to the defence industry.
I’m pretty sure ” … passes key trial” means it’s test phase is in progress. So further trials would be needed to have a complete and ready to field product.
👌
This innovation at pace aligns with the 2025 Strategic Defence Review scope for attritable systems, specifically to design, build, test, repeat not to build for stock.
Getting this on to the AFU Brave1 program for real world testing is one heck of a user acceptance test bringing combat honours.
The reluctance to invest in long term capabilities has been a critical failure so this is exactly the kind of demand signal and capability incubator needed.
The only issue is the small number, three, of competitors moving to the final stages of the BRAKESTOP initiative. Hopefully these successful products, and more time to think, will get more of the initial competitors back with more compelling offers.
The Brave1 programme has shown that diverse solutions to unexpected challenges are how to find products that work in the shortest time possible. Not Months, but Hours, or Days to combat effectiveness.
According to the company website, Skylance has a CEP of @ 20 ft in a GPS denied environment. So it looks most suitable for attacking sizable fixed targets- bridges or other infrastructure. Kerch bridge?
I think Ukraine might have their huge new underwater drone earmarked for that piece of Russian infrastructure.
The 414 Unmanned Systems Brigade Madyars Birds have been successful with the “Logistics Lockdown” project to remove supplies, ammo, and fuel from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine including Crimea by destroying hundreds of trucks, trains, and vessels each day.
The Crimea is now without fuel for any civilian or corporate use, and only military supply is possible, according to the occupation authorities.
I suspect that the bridge will be kept as a route home for the occupiers so it’s enough to threaten it credibly and keep the Lockdown going in addition to the GBAD long range precision fires that pressure the occupiers. Without effective RF GBAD the AFU weapons can do whatever they want to defend their nation.
Combined with the 225kg warhead, that should have an effect..
Uk should just place an order for 100 plus of them today with quick delivery time , then gift them or sell them to Ukraine to get things moving. A win win simples sounds like they are now American owned ?
It’s owned by the Americans yet again.. No sovereign capability at all. Permission and tech knowledge how in their hands. MOD is a disgrace!
You missed out paragraph four then when reading the article?