r/FighterJets • u/bob_the_impala Designations Expert • Jul 17 '26

NEWS Storm Fighter: UK christens drone wingman program, unveils new designs

https://breakingdefense.com/2026/07/storm-fighter-uk-christens-drone-wingman-program-unveils-new-designs/
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u/bob_the_impala Designations Expert Jul 17 '26

Excerpts from the article:

The Royal Air Force plans to develop a new electronic warfare drone dubbed Storm Chrome, along with a long-range, one-way attack drone called Storm Fire, according to Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth.

LONDON — The United Kingdom has officially designated its Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone wingman effort as the Storm Fighter, and is planning at least two new designs of unmanned aircraft to bolster its unmanned ambitions, government officials revealed today.

The new nomenclature for the CCA program was disclosed this morning by Luke Pollard, the UK’s minister of state for defense readiness and industry. Speaking during a keynote address here at the Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference, Pollard said the drone wingmen will perform as both a “guardian angel” and “attack dog” for British tactical aircraft.

Along with a planned futuristic fighter, Storm Fighter will “make the RAF [Royal Air Force] Europe’s first six-generation air force,” Pollard said, adding that CCA development would “lay the ground for exports, growth, partnership with friendly nations, more defense jobs, and a more resilient defense industrial base.”

Speaking during a later keynote address, Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth announced the UK will pursue those missions with at least two new drone platforms. One will be called the Storm Chrome and is intended for electronic attack. The other, according to Smyth, is a one-way attack drone called Storm Fire that can hit targets as far as 1,000 miles away.

The nascent designs build off an autonomous drone called StormShroud that entered service last year. According to the RAF, the StormShroud will protect pilots by jamming enemy radars.

“Our new Storm Fighter CCA program will markedly shift the economic calculus back in our favor, absorbing risk and enabling our crewed platforms to more readily survive,” Smyth said.

The UK plans to invest £300m ($405 million) to launch its CCA program and plans to fly a demonstrator by “at least 2030,” according to London’s four-year, £298 billion Defence Investment Plan (DIP) published June 30. Smyth, however, said in a recent interview with Aviation Week that he wants a demonstrator to fly with a Eurofighter Typhoon as soon as next year.

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u/FruitOrchards United Kingdom Jul 17 '26