UK MOD Commits Over £2 Million to PYRAMID Open Avionics Architecture for Drones, Swarms, and GCAP Fighter Programme

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) is accelerating its adoption of open avionics architecture, with UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) announcing awards totalling more than £2 million to four companies for integrating the PYRAMID standard into drones and mission systems.

Announced on 25 June 2026, the Phase 2 competition is hosted by the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office and builds on Phase 1 outcomes — the MOD stated that the previous round successfully expanded the supplier base offering PYRAMID-compatible products.

What Is the PYRAMID Open Avionics Architecture?

PYRAMID is a UK MOD initiative to develop modular avionics and mission systems using a common open reference architecture known as the PYRAMID Reference Architecture (PRA).

Its core objective is to enable software reuse across platforms, reducing the time and cost of inserting new capabilities throughout an aircraft's service life — applicable to both new designs and legacy fleets. Open architectures of this kind are designed to reduce single-supplier dependency and allow operators to integrate subsystems from multiple vendors.

The Four Award Recipients and Their Applications

Barnard Microsystems will integrate the PRA into its all-electric AWAE-24 drone, with the goal of enabling both solo and coordinated swarm operations, and extending the work to longer-range, higher-speed aircraft designs.

FLYBY Technology, founded by former fast-jet weapons instructor Jon Parker, has announced its aim to achieve the first live deployment of the PYRAMID Reference Architecture on an operational airborne platform in flight.

Auterion, in partnership with Frazer-Nash Consultancy, will develop a PYRAMID-compliant upgrade for its Nemyx swarm autonomy platform, demonstrating how the architecture can support drone swarm systems.

Transatlantic Interoperability

Applied Intuition UK plans to demonstrate an airborne targeting link that simultaneously complies with both PYRAMID and the US FACE (Future Airborne Capability Environment) standard — the American open avionics software framework.

The company indicated that dual compliance is intended to lay the groundwork for future UK–US interoperability, positioning itself as a potential supplier for several major programmes — including the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the trilateral UK–Italy–Japan initiative to field a sixth-generation combat aircraft by 2035.

Mike Lane, PYRAMID Programme Lead at the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office, noted that Phase 1 had attracted UK and international partners and expanded the number of suppliers offering compatible products, describing UKDI's investment as "a genuine asset to UK defence."

UKDI stated it will continue to announce PYRAMID-related programmes and funding opportunities to drive further development of the initiative.

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