The UK royal air force has launched Storm Fighter, a new collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) programme to develop autonomous "loyal wingman" drones that will operate alongside crewed fighter jets. The initiative marks Britain's renewed push into crewed-uncrewed teaming system and what official describe as “Europe’s first sixth-generation air force.”
Storm Fighter is part of the UK's wider defence modernisation programme, backed by £5 billion (around $6.6 billion) in funding over the next four years to accelerate the induction of autonomous and uncrewed systems across the armed forces. The programme will support the RAF's Typhoon, F-35B Lightning II and the future Global combat air programme (GCAP) fighter.
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Speaking at the Air & Space power association global air and space chiefs' conference in London, UK ,inister for defence readiness and industry Luke Pollard said the Storm Fighter programme will be funded through the £300 million (about $406 million) allocated for collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) under the defence investment plan unveiled earlier this month.
“We are maximizing our 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 (electronic warfare) capabilities,” Pollard said,
He further stated, “I am delighted to reveal that our new autonomous CCA program will be named Storm Fighter to deliver guardian angel and attack dog drones to fly into combat with the Typhoon, F-35, and Tempest.
Storm Fighter will make the RAF Europe’s first sixth-generation air force.”
Collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) is an autonomous uncrewed combat aircraft designed to operate alongside a crewed fighter jet as part of a coordinated team. Often referred to as a "loyal wingman", it is intended to extend the combat capability of manned aircraft rather than replace them.
Controlled by a pilot or operating with a high degree of autonomy, a CCA can undertake high-risk missions such as electronic warfare, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, decoy operations, precision strikes and even air-to-air combat. It can also carry additional missiles and sensors, allowing the crewed fighter to remain farther from enemy air defences while commanding multiple unmanned aircraft.
Leading the development of Collaborative combat aircraft is United States through US air force CCA programme. US air force has selected General Atomics' YFQ-42A and Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury as its first CCA prototypes.
Designed to operate alongside the F-35, F-22, F-15EX and the future F-47, the aircraft are capable of air-to-air combat, electronic warfare, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, decoy operations and precision strikes.
Earlier this month YFQ-44A Fury became the first US Collaborative combat aircraft to successfully fire a live AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile during a test, marking a major milestone in the programme's development.
HAL CATS Warrior prototype at Aero India 2025
India is also developing an indigenous manned-unmanned teaming capability through the Combat air teaming system (CATS). It is jointly developed by HAL and New Space Research & Technologies, the autonomous aircraft is designed to operate alongside the Su-30MKI, Tejas Mk1A, and the future Advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA).
The CATS Warrior is designed to fly ahead of a crewed aircraft called mothership and undertake high-risk missions, allowing the crewed fighter to remain at a safer distance. The drone is also expected to carry both air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.
Besides the Warrior, it includes the CATS Hunter precision-strike vehicle, ALFA-S (Air launched flexible asset-swarm) loitering swarm drones and CATS Infinity, a high-altitude long-endurance platform. These systems are designed to work together under the control of a crewed fighter, creating a networked manned-unmanned combat package.
HAL has successfully completed the engine ground run of the full-scale CATS Warrior demonstrator, a key milestone before flight testing. The prototype was subsequently displayed at Aero India 2025, indicating steady progress in India's indigenous loyal wingman programme
