Storm Fighter: RAF and BAE Systems to begin Brontanax flight tests in 2027

Harriet L. Whitmore • August 16, 2026 18:47

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The Storm Fighter programme, led by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and BAE Systems, is scheduled to begin flight testing in 2027 with the new collaborative combat drone, Brontanax. This system sits within the UK’s push to build future air capabilities and is intended to operate alongside crewed aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the F-35 and, later on, the future Tempest fighter-expanding combat capacity while lowering risk to pilots.

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Storm Fighter will connect crewed aircraft with autonomous platforms

The UK Ministry of Defence recently confirmed that the CCA programme will now be known as Storm Fighter. The initiative is backed by £300 million in government funding and is part of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which sets out spending of £298,000 million over the next four years. That package includes dedicated funding to reinforce air and space power and to develop advanced uncrewed systems.

Luke Pollard, the UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry, said Storm Fighter will enable a new generation of autonomous aircraft designed to accompany Eurofighter Typhoons, F-35s and the future Tempest. “Today I am pleased to reveal that our new autonomous CCA programme will be called Storm Fighter. Storm Fighter will make the Royal Air Force (RAF) the first sixth-generation air force in Europe”, Pollard said at the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference.

The UK Secretary of State for Defence, Wes Streeting, also underlined what the project means for domestic industry. “We are investing £300 million in our Storm Fighter programme to develop an autonomous combat aircraft here in the United Kingdom. This launch demonstrates the industrial capability we have to deliver our ambition to become the first sixth-generation air force in Europe”, he said.

Storm Fighter timeline: first flight in 2027, service before decade’s end

The Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force (RAF), Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, stated that the service expects the prototype to make its first flight in 2027, adding that the programme will help accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies. BAE Systems’ Air Sector Managing Director, Simon Barnes, said Brontanax will extend the operational reach of crewed aircraft, increase available combat mass, and help keep pilots away from the highest-risk areas.

Brontanax will be the United Kingdom’s first autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)

BAE Systems unveiled Brontanax at the Farnborough International Airshow, describing it as the first autonomous, uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) developed in the United Kingdom. The aircraft was designed and built at the company’s facilities in Warton, Lancashire, where more than 500 employees worked on the project alongside over 75 UK aerospace prime contractors and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Brontanax is intended to deliver electronic warfare effects and precision strikes against ground and air targets. It will be roughly comparable in size to BAE Systems’ Hawk trainer and can be directed either by a Eurofighter Typhoon pilot or by a mission commander operating from a remote location. With an open architecture and a modular design, the platform is expected to accept new capabilities as threats evolve.

Ground trials at Warton ahead of flight testing

Before the flight-test campaign begins, Brontanax will undergo ground testing at the Warton site. Under Storm Fighter, this collaborative combat drone is planned to enter service before the end of the decade and to become a central part of the UK’s future air-combat structure, built around tight integration between crewed platforms and autonomous systems.

Cover image sourced from BAE Systems.