At DSEI, the new First Sea Lord announced the intent to fly a first jet-powered Autonomous Collaborative Platform aircraft from the QUEEN ELIZABETH-class aircraft carriers within the next year, and the MoD has now released the relevant Request for Information to industry.

Project VANQUISH wants to deliver a “technical demonstration at sea” of an “attritable” Fixed Wing Short Take Off and Landing Autonomous Collaborative Platform (FW STOL ACP). It is specified that the drone will be a “Tier 2” platform: according to the UK ACP Strategy, drones are classified ‘Disposable’ (Tier 1), when recovery is de facto “optional” with the loss of the aircraft fully envisaged and acceptable or even intended by design (eg, One Way Strike effectors); ‘Attritable’ (Tier 2) are more complex and expensive and designed for recovery but cheap enough to be lost without regrets and finally ‘Survivable’ (Tier 3), systems which are closer in cost and complexity to the manned jets, with their loss representing a significant impact.

STORMSHROUD, the first ACP put into service by the Royal Air Force, is a Tier 1 platform.  The VANQUISH demo has a “nominal target date by the end of 2026”, and the proposed system should come with options enabling delivery of operational systems within an 18-month window from the demo.

The drone is intended to be powered by a jet turbine and to achieve high subsonic speeds. It should be capable of launching from and recovering to QEC without the need for catapults or arrested recovery systems, while maintaining credible payload capacity and endurance

VANQUISH should open an “exploitation pathway” that will in time lead to “a wide range of maritime mission sets in support of UK Carrier Strike in due course (ISR/Strike/Air-Air Refuelling), to complement F-35B LIGHTNING”. The Air to Air refueling ambition in particular is most likely to require in future the retrofit of the carriers with some form of catapult and maybe arresting wires, as take off weights in particular would have to be significant. One of the Firms most likely to be interested in VANQUISH, General Atomics, has for quite some time shown images of its large stealth drones on QE-class carriers, but showing a small electromagnetic accelerator catapult fitted alongside the ski jump, for example.

Modifications to the carriers are the subjects of a study known as Project ARK ROYAL but, for the moment at least, the intention is to push the limits of what can be done without modifications to the ships.

The VANQUISH RFI is “separate to, but coherent with” the earlier RFI for a drone solution for Airborne Early Warning, for which the MQ-9B PROTECTOR, retrofitted with Short Take Off and Landing wing kit, is seen as favorite.

Industry responses are wanted by 14 November, with start of activities towards a demonstration already between January and April 2026. The initial budget for the demo phase is estimated at £12 million (VAT included).

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