Storm Fighter to lead new RAF collaborative combat aircraft family

Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP delivered a key note speach detailing the future of the Royal Air Force’s combat power centred around the Typhoon, F-35, Tempest, and autonomous aircraft, of which the flagship will be the Storm Fighter.

Pollard said new investments “will make the Royal Air Force Europe’s first sixth-generation Air Force. Six steps that secure a brighter future for our Royal Air Force and soon-to-be-renamed Air and Space Command.” The main Royal Air Force (RAF) branch is not being renamed, but rather the overarching administrative arm.

We've signed a £4.6 billion contract alongside Italy and Japan for the Global Combat Air Programme, @GCAP_int. GCAP and @EdgewingLtd will equip our @royalairforce with a cutting-edge stealth fighter jet, featuring:

🤖 AI-enabled systems
🥷 Advanced stealth
🧠 Intelligent cockpit pic.twitter.com/k42gFkyDZI

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 3, 2026

The Defence Investment Plan includes funds for a new Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme to be called Storm Fighter. Pollard said this was the most “eye-catching” investment and is to be the “next phase of autonomous combat air power with Britain’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme. The UK’s previous CCA initiatives had lost momentum.

He said the autonomous jets would be developed in the United Kingdom and would act as both “guardian angel and attack dog” for the RAF’s Typhoons, F-35s, and future Tempests.

While the Storm Fighter will need to be integrated into the existing F-35s and Typhoons, it will be built around the 6th-generation Tempest fighter jet.

The current plan outlined in the Defence Investment Plan is to invest £300 million in the CCA programme and have a demonstrator flying by “at least 2030.” However, the RAF told Aviation Week it wants a demonstrator flying with a Typhoon as soon as 2027.

Storm Chrome & Storm Fire also announced

Breaking Defense quoted Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth as later saying the UK will pursue its CCA programme with at least two other new drone platforms.

One will be called the Storm Chrome and will be used for electronic attack. He also explained the second drone, called Storm Fire, will be a one-way attack drone able to hit targets as far away as 1,000 miles.

According to Breaking Defense, these smaller aircraft will be built on the diminutive existing StormShroud. Little more is known about these aircraft, but it highlights that the Storm Fighter can be considered the top tier of a future family of autonomous aircraft, complementing crewed fighter jets.

Building on the existing StormShroud UAV

StormShroud entered service with 216 Squadron in May 2025. At the time, the RAF wrote that StormShroud is “a drone system that can blind enemy radars and disrupt integrated air defence systems; StormShroud will enhance the survivability and lethality of capabilities like Typhoon and F-35B Lightning.”

StormShroud has been trailed in exercises and is fitted with the Leonardo BriteStorm stand-in jammer. The small UAV has a length of 1.7 metres, a cruise speed of 46 knots, and a max altitude of 12,000 feet.

It is based on a tactical Tekever AR3 small uncrewed aerial system (UAS) and enhances the survivability and lethality of the Typhoons and F-35s.