Calls for "strike and refuelling drone" to bolster Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales
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Defence officials are calling for preliminary views on a new sophisticated drone to be built for the Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is asking industry to pitch ideas for a new autonomous system for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, amid ambitions to launch a Hybrid Carrier Air Wing. This formation would see each £3.2bn aircraft carrier joined by F-35B fighter jets and autonomous drones and systems of various types.
As reported in the UK Defence Journal, a preliminary market engagement notice has been published under Project Vanquish. The government body is asking businesses to provide concepts for a new “Fixed Wing Short Take Off and Landing Autonomous Collaborative Platform”, better known as a "strike and refuelling drone". It has to be autonomous and operated remotely.
“Project VANQUISH seeks to deliver a technical demonstration at sea of an attritable (Tier 2) Fixed Wing Short Take Off and Landing Autonomous Collaborative Platform (FW STOL ACP); nominal target date by the end of 2026, with options for delivery within an 18 month window from the target date also considered,” the notice said.
Recommendations to introduce a Hybrid Carrier Air Wing were set out in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) published in June. Defence secretary John Healey said the UK will be the first nation in Europe to adopt it. The reviewers in the publication said the Royal Navy “must continue to move towards a more powerful but cheaper and simpler fleet”: a mix of “high-low” equipment and weapons that exploit autonomy and digital integration.
Drones are already being used on HMS Prince of Wales, with the Malloy T-150 being deployed to transport cargo between vessels assigned to the UK Carrier Strike Group. The UK Defence Journal said the estimated contract value is £12m including VAT, with a potential period from April 2026 to December 2027.
Although it’s not a formal procurement, it’s an indicator of what equipment may be used on the aircraft carriers in the future. “For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is not informing the market of an imminent procurement,” the notice added. “All costs pertaining to the completion of this response are to be borne by the responders.”