UK Officially Names Drone Wingman Programme 'Storm Fighter', to Fly Alongside Typhoon, F-35 and Tempest

UK Officially Launches Storm Fighter Drone Wingman Programme

The United Kingdom has formally named its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone wingman programme Storm Fighter, unveiling plans for at least two new autonomous aircraft designs intended to enhance the country's unmanned combat capabilities.

According to an official speaking at the 16 July announcement, the UK is working to build "Europe's first sixth-generation air force."

The CCA programme was announced by Luke Pollard, the UK's Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry. Delivering the keynote address at the Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference, Pollard described the loyal wingman drones as "guardian angels" and "attack dogs" for British tactical aircraft.

Pollard stated that Storm Fighter will work alongside the planned next-generation combat aircraft to "make the Royal Air Force (RAF) Europe's first sixth-generation air force," adding that the CCA programme will "lay the foundation for exports, economic growth, partnerships with like-minded nations, more defence jobs, and a more resilient defence industrial base."

UK's $6.6 Billion Drone Investment Plan

Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled his government's long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP). The government stated that the plan aims to "secure national security for years to come" and relies heavily on autonomous systems.

The DIP is part of the UK's ten-year national security blueprint, raising defence spending to 3% of GDP, with a target of reaching 3.5% by 2035.

Over the next four years, the plan will commit $6.6 billion to drones and related capabilities.

"Drones are rapidly reshaping modern warfare — low-cost systems can destroy high-value targets, and cycles of technological innovation are measured in weeks, not years," the government said in the announcement.

"Ukraine uses around 200,000 drones per month to resist Russia's brutal invasion, and at the height of the Iran conflict, as many as 700 attack drones were launched in a single day," the government added.

'Future Battlefields Will Be Swarming with Drones'

"We are maximising our air power at the eye of a storm on future battlefields — one that will be swarming with drone swarms, sixth-generation fighters and ever-evolving electronic warfare (EW) capabilities," said Pollard.

"I am pleased to announce that our new autonomous CCA programme will be named Storm Fighter… designed to provide guardian angel-type and attack dog-type drones, flying alongside Typhoon, F-35 and Tempest. Storm Fighter will make the RAF Europe's first sixth-generation air force," he added.

The drones will extend the sensor coverage of manned fighters while carrying additional weapons, thereby increasing overall combat scale and survivability.

RAF Receives Major Funding Boost Under DIP

Pollard noted that the RAF has received a substantial injection of funding from the Defence Investment Plan published last month, with $41.7 billion allocated for air and space programmes — covering GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme) development, upgrades to the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the procurement of additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

Pollard also stressed that fully replacing manned aircraft with autonomous systems "is not the right lesson from the Russia-Ukraine war," noting that the UK requires "the form of air power that only combat jets and deep strike can deliver."

At the conference, Pollard said Storm Fighter will "develop autonomous jets on home soil, providing new levels of lethality and survivability for manned aircraft" and help maximise UK air power.

The RAF's Growing 'Storm' Family

Alongside the Storm Fighter CCA programme, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth separately unveiled two new supporting drone designs.

These include Storm Chrome — a dedicated electronic warfare jamming platform — and Storm Fire — a one-way attack drone (also known as a loitering munition or "kamikaze" drone) with a range of 1,000 miles (approximately 1,609 km).

Smyth told conference attendees, as reported by Aviation Week, that the service aims to achieve operational CCA capability before the end of the decade.

The new systems build on operational experience accumulated through Storm Shroud, an autonomous operational platform that formally entered RAF service last year.

According to the RAF, Storm Shroud is a groundbreaking autonomous electronic warfare drone designed to fly ahead of manned combat aircraft — such as the F-35B Lightning and Eurofighter Typhoon — suppressing enemy air defences by jamming and blinding hostile radar systems, and protecting pilots in high-threat environments.

Delivered in just six months, it is not only the RAF's first unmanned electronic warfare aircraft, but also forms the foundation of a growing family of Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP), paving the way for new concepts such as Storm Fighter and Storm Fire.

"Our new CCA programme — Storm Fighter — will fundamentally shift the economic advantage to our side by absorbing risk and allowing manned platforms to survive more effectively," said Smyth.

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