Anduril, GKN Aerospace and Archer have formed a team to work together over the development of a rotorcraft uncrewed vehicle that will compete for the British Army’s Project NYX, the demonstration of an Autonomous Collaborative Platform supporting the AH-64E APACHE.

The signing ceremony took place at GKN Aerospace’s Cowes facility on 9 December. GKN Aerospace will lead structural design and integration work, “drawing on its world-class expertise in aerostructures, electrical wiring interconnection systems (EWIS) and aerospace engineering”.

Archer, in turn, brings to the table the expertise in electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) that comes from its development programme for aero-taxi mobility solutions.

At the ceremony, the 3 companies showcased the tail module of their perspective NYX demonstrator, a component notable for the lack of tail rotor and its V vertical surfaces. It is highly likely the aircraft will use Archer’s electric motors with tilting propellers, delivering both lift in the vertical and speed in fixed wing flying.

NYX is expected to offer a substantial payload, possibly in the 200 kg region. The release of the tender is expected later this month.

According to what has been signaled in earlier pipeline notices to industry, the MOD anticipates awarding initial development funding to a maximum of 4 suppliers in the first quarter of 2026, proceeding afterwards to reduce the candidates in a 3-2-1 competition with multiple down selection events.

A major ACP capability demonstration event is already planned for the second quarter of 2027. Specifically, the Army’s stated intent is to have NYX demonstrator(s) fielded during the NATO exercise STEADFAST DEFENDER 27’.

According to what the Chief of the General Staff said in the Land Warfare conference earlier this year, in that occasion it is hoped NYX demonstrators will work towards enabling a couple of APACHEs, supported by “layers” of “attritable mule drones and consumable OWE (One Way Effector)” to offer a lethal capability in the region of “200 stored kills” with a “over 50 km standoff” attack range.

It is anticipated the demonstration phase for NYX will wrap up in the first quarter of 2028, enabling fielding and spiral development.

With a budget of 100 million pounds (VAT included), Project NYX is currently by far the single most expensive and ambitious drone demonstration project, considering for example that the budget for Project VANQUISH (the demonstration of a jet-powered ACP on a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier in 2026) has a budget of just about 10 million.

It is intended that NYX will operate in a highly autonomous, "commanded not controlled" manner to perform multiple tasks in contested airspace, “including reconnaissance, target acquisition, strike, countermeasure defeat, and integration with Launched Effects (LE)”.

The range of contenders for NYX is not yet clear but multiple entries can be expected for such a prestigious and potentially lucrative opportunity. General Dynamics might have provided more than one hint by displaying an ENVOY tandem rotor drone by General Dynamics Mission Systems – Canada at DSEI in September. The aircraft was showcased in UK colors and armed with Thales LMM missiles on one side, and an ISR pod on the other. Elsewhere, an image of ENVOY has been published with the drone armed with Thales FURY guided bombs, themselves a derivation of the LMM seeker and warhead. ENVOY has a useful payload of circa 180 kg.

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