Strike drones have been launched from a British aircraft carrier for the first time, the Royal Navy said on 5 November, describing North Atlantic trials held in mid-October in which Nyan Maritime one-way drones took off from the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The drones are British made and manufactured in Wiltshire by Callen-Lenz. The Navy said the flights showed how autonomous strike systems could operate alongside F-35B stealth jets, and that it ran them with experts from across the Armed Forces and industry. It called the launches a major step towards transforming how Britain fights at sea.

BAE Systems said on 9 November that four separate launches took place during Exercise Neptune Reach B in the North Atlantic, and that all four aircraft reached their assigned strike points. The company said the Nyan One-Way Effector has a 2.9-metre wingspan and was developed by Callen-Lenz, a BAE Systems business.

Four launches from the carrier deck

The carrier flights followed the drone’s first launch at sea, from the experimentation ship XV Patrick Blackett earlier this year. BAE Systems said that earlier launch came during Exercise Neptune Reach A. The Royal Navy said a number of flights were conducted from HMS Queen Elizabeth during the October trials.

The trials developed understanding of how uncrewed strike systems could contribute to future Carrier Strike operations and to wider Defence activity, the Navy said. They are another step towards the service’s approach to fighting in the air from an aircraft carrier, which it calls the hybrid carrier air wing: crewed aircraft and drones brought together to increase the carrier’s reach, lethality and flexibility while keeping personnel further away from danger.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The threat environment we are facing is fundamentally different from that of recent decades. A major determinant of military power now is who can innovate fastest.”

Streeting said the first for the Royal Navy showed how the government was “using the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War to invest in equipment and technology that gives our forces greater reach to strike the enemy, with increased lethality”. He added: “The more ready we are to fight and win, the less likely we are to have to. This investment strengthens our warfighting readiness and therefore our deterrence.”

A larger uncrewed aircraft on the same deck

While the strike launches were under way, the carrier hosted Heavy Lift Challenge 3, in which a Tekever AR5 fixed-wing uncrewed aircraft operated from a carrier for the first time, the Navy said.

The AR5 has a 7m wingspan and capacity to carry 80kg, and can support both logistics and operational missions. The trials showed how drones used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance could operate alongside strike systems as part of a more integrated fighting force, the Navy said.

Together, the Navy said, the flights demonstrate how uncrewed aircraft can increase the flexibility and capability of the UK’s aircraft carriers as the service develops its future hybrid air wing.

Lieutenant Commander David Burton, trials sponsor for Navy Capability, said: “These trials give us the evidence and confidence to decide how uncrewed systems can work alongside crewed aircraft.” He added: “The lessons will help us build a hybrid Navy that gives commanders greater choice and ensures our carriers remain at the cutting edge of naval warfare.”

What the Defence Investment Plan sets aside

The Navy set the trials within the government’s plan to modernise the Armed Forces for the way wars are fought today. It said the Defence Investment Plan provides over £5bn for autonomous systems by 2030, the largest ever drone investment in Defence.

The plan includes:

  • almost £250m for Project Pantheon, developing autonomous systems to build a hybrid carrier air wing, and for trials of jet-powered drones to work alongside the F-35B force;
  • at least £1.3bn for a hybrid fleet of crewed and uncrewed ships, with the first large autonomous vessels due in service by 2030;
  • at least £210m for low-cost, long-range one-way attack drones for the Navy, Army and RAF.

The plan also sets out that the Queen Elizabeth class carriers will use uncrewed systems to strengthen the F-35B force, creating the hybrid carrier air wing the October trials were run to inform. The surface-vessel side of the same uncrewed push is covered separately in the Royal Navy’s first autonomous squadron.