U.K. Royal Air Force announces new Storm Fighter collaborative combat aircraft program

The U.K. Royal Air Force launched a new collaborative combat aircraft program named Storm Fighter. Luke Pollard, the U.K. minister for defense readiness and industry, announced the initiative today 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 this month. The broader U.K. defense modernization effort is backed by around $6.6 billion over the next four years.

Pollard said the program will deliver guardian angel and attack dog drones to fly into combat with the Typhoon, F-35, and Tempest. He added that Storm Fighter will make the RAF Europe’s first sixth-generation air force. 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.

Storm Shroud, an uncrewed electronic warfare drone, is scheduled to enter service this year. Project Vanquish aims to demonstrate a fixed-wing short takeoff and landing autonomous collaborative platform from a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier before the end of 2027.

A Royal Air Force official said the resulting vehicle must be good enough, cheap enough, and producible fast enough in sufficient numbers.

The Typhoon is currently planned for withdrawal from service by 2040. Several contractors including BAE Systems and Boeing have indicated interest in Storm Fighter, though a formal set of requirements has not yet been published. Project Mosquito, an earlier uncrewed fighter aircraft effort, received a $41 million budget across three years after a 2021 contract award to Spirit AeroSystems and was canceled in 2022.