Royal Air Force Launches Storm Fighter Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program

The U.K. Royal Air Force launched a new collaborative combat aircraft program named Storm Fighter on July 16, 2026. Luke Pollard, the U.K. minister for defense readiness and industry, made the announcement during a keynote speech at the Air & Space Power Association Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference in London.

Storm Fighter will receive funding from the $406 million investment in collaborative combat aircraft included in the Defense Investment Plan published earlier in July. The program forms part of a wider U.K. defense modernization effort backed by around $6.6 billion over the next four years.

Pollard said the drones would serve as “guardian angel and attack dog” platforms to fly into combat alongside the Typhoon, F-35, and Tempest. The announcement aligns with other “Storm” initiatives already under way. Storm Shroud, an uncrewed electronic warfare drone, is scheduled to enter service in 2026.

The Royal Air Force also announced Storm Chrome, a new electronic warfare drone, and Storm Fire, a one-way attack drone with a 1,000-mile range, on the same day. Pollard highlighted Project Vanquish as an experimental effort that could feed into Storm Fighter.

The project aims to demonstrate a fixed-wing, short takeoff and landing autonomous platform from a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier before the end of 2027.

The Typhoon is currently planned for withdrawal from service by 2040, creating a timeline pressure for the new drones to reach operational use ahead of the Tempest. A Royal Air Force official stressed the need for affordable and rapidly producible systems. “You want something that is good enough that is cheap enough that can be produced fast enough, and we need enough of them,” the official said.