UK Defence Minister: RAF autonomous fighter jet officially named Storm Fighter

The United Kingdom's programme to develop autonomous fighter jets will be named Storm Fighter, Defence Minister Luke Pollard has announced. The aircraft are intended to fly alongside the RAF's Typhoons, F-35s and future Tempest jets, serving as what he described as both a "guardian angel and an attack dog."

Programme Overview

Speaking on the second day of the Global Air and Space Chiefs' Conference in London, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry confirmed that the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme — given the go-ahead in the recent Defence Investment Plan — will develop autonomous jets in the UK to provide new levels of lethality and survivability for crewed aircraft.

"Today, I'm delighted to reveal that our new autonomous CCA programme will be named Storm Fighter. Storm Fighter will make the RAF Europe's first sixth generation Air Force," he told delegates, as quoted in the transcript of the speech.

Background and Related Investments

The programme builds on Storm Shroud, the uncrewed electronic warfare system unveiled last year that pairs autonomous aircraft with Typhoons to blind enemy radars. It sits alongside £5 billion the Government is investing in drones and other advanced uncrewed systems — a figure Pollard noted has risen from the £4 billion previously announced.

The Minister said the aim is to maximise British air power "in the eye of the storm of future combat, that will be swarming with drones, sixth generation fighter jets and ever-evolving EW capabilities." He pointed to Project Vanquish, a trial of a jet-powered drone to serve alongside the F-35B force, as an example of the innovation ecosystem the investment is intended to nourish.

Defence Investment Plan Breakdown

The naming caps a speech in which Pollard set out the scale of the air and space settlement in the £298 billion Defence Investment Plan, which allocates £31 billion to the two domains over the next four years. Key allocations include:

• £8.6 billion — funds the design and testing phase of the Global Combat Air Programme, following the £4.6 billion contract awarded earlier this month to the Reading-based Edgewing consortium of BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan's aircraft industry partners
• £1.1 billion — upgrades and sustains the Typhoon force well into the 2040s
• More than £4.5 billion — goes into the A400M, Voyager and C-17 transport fleets
• More than £2 billion — lays the ground for the first F-35As that will return the RAF to NATO's tactical nuclear mission, providing what Pollard called "a long overdue additional rung on our escalation ladder"
• £360 million — fully recapitalises the jet training system, which the Minister said will ultimately deliver new jets for the Red Arrows

Vision for the Future

Concluding his address, Pollard argued that the plan amounts to a blueprint for "a hybrid digitally integrated and AI-enabled air force" built around three combat air platforms: F-35, Typhoon and Tempest. The RAF will be strengthened by £27.8 billion of investment over the next four years, with a future that is, in his closing words to the conference, "bright" and "Air Force blue."