The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that a new competition for “novel uncrewed aerial systems” will begin in early 2026, as part of the government’s effort to expand the UK’s drone capabilities and stimulate the defence technology sector.
Responding to parliamentary questions from Ben Obese-Jecty MP, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the initiative will build on existing uncrewed systems programmes across the armed forces, with an emphasis on developing long-range, low-cost, and mass-produced one-way attack drones.
Pollard stated that the Ministry is “working with the Front-Line Commands and across the ecosystem to build on existing uncrewed systems delivery,” adding that the competitions will aim to “rapidly iterate novel capabilities, learn lessons from Ukraine, support the government’s growth agenda and grow the UK technology sector.”
The Defence Industrial Strategy, published in September, identified uncrewed and autonomous systems as a key priority for investment. The new competitions will assess designs based on range, payload, size, and survivability, tailored to the needs of different services.
“There is a wide spectrum of uncrewed systems requirements from across Defence,” Pollard said. “Some are complementary whilst others are bespoke to each service.”
The initiative reflects the growing importance of drones and autonomous systems in modern warfare, with lessons from the Ukraine conflict driving the UK’s push to develop more affordable and adaptable strike and reconnaissance platforms.
A sort of modern day “Churchill’s Toyshop”.
They just need to bloody get on with it!!!
By now, we should have a range of cheaper drones down selected and a finalised list of Loyal wingmen to examine and test.
Absolutely.
If necessary new legislation is needed to speed up this stuff.
Another project, idea launch. Wwe are very good at launching projects. May be even a world leader. Not o good at ordering any thing apart from spares etc though. Good job we had that defence review all those projects to run but never buy any thing.
It’s deja-vu all over again
This is great
novel uncrewed aerial systems NUAS
now we have a four letter acronym we can now proceed to having a competition. Hopefully we might see something fielded by 2040
Will a NUAS be an ACP? Don’t know
Will VANQUISH be a NUAS? No idea.
does any of this stuff exist outside power point? Probably not
We were flying these things 15 years ago with Taranis and Corax and now we are thinking about a competition next year. So i guess all the tech demonstrators for BAE were a total waste of money.
People keep blaming politicians for all this when its clearly the military brass. Most politicians don’t get 18 months in the job in the MOD.
This reminds me of the first half of the thirties when all number of Ministry specifications were issued and real requirements a matter of constant debate and argument that generally led no where or constantly revised. Companies equally were putting forward their own ideas and nebulous proposals that often had specifications written specifically for them and when the Ministry was convinced of their merit. Problem is that latter was heavily influenced by the power and influence of the Companies themselves so Vickers, Bristol and Hawker generally had a grip, certainly first dibs on the prime projects which so often limited innovation and timely development. At least that latter in this case is no longer a dominant factor but by the mid thirties the prospect of war did focus if belatedly on getting things done. Seems no real focus on that presently, maybe that meme that I keep hearing that Russia won’t attack us is still too presumptuous, ‘attack’ can take many hybrid forms and we can’t as some think do nothing unless they reach the Channel or North Sea.
What concerns me most is that this snail’s pace far to easily means that any eventual platform will simply be obsolete upon introduction, another flaw that hit so many of our thirties projects thanks to treaty obligations.
I agree, totally useless top brass in the army in the 30’s with no idea what it wanted or how to use it.
Navy and Air Force (fighter command) were much better and world leading.
Are there not enough of the current crop to do this… Sure, they look like Shahed drones, but, it’s a flying wing design and that’s the best range and payload combo. Hell, the Shahed drone being lobbed out Containers is actually something we should try to replicate…
I’m sure we can do better than shahed, they are slow and noisy, so fairly easy to identify and take out when not used in high numbers. Something similar that is quieter and fly’s lower would be lethal and very difficult to track
The point of them is to be stupid cheap and waste enemy air defenses. They do that pretty well. Or at least until we all adopt Tridon 40mm Bofors. That has an 8 mile range, accurate and great rounds to down drones.
Then the stupid cheap drones will become a lot less effective as the methods of destroying them are now also cheap.
I think the image is just an illustration for the article
What happened to Taranis?
It returned to Mythology.
I think we need a consolidated list of what uav programs are out there.
Agree. I’m struggling to keep track.
Excellent!! More trials!! Just what’s needed.
More money about to be spaffed away. Lots of assessments, R+D etc but bog all hardware actually ordered.
How many novel unmanned aerial systems will this programme result in?
My prediction is precisely zero