Royal Air Force

In a world first, the Royal Air Force airdropped an autonomous drone boat from a military transport aircraft. Part of the Royal Navy's Project Beehive, a Kraken Technologies K3 SCOUT vehicle was parachuted from an Airbus A400M cargo plane over the North Sea.

On July 3, the Royal Navy applied lessons learned from Ukraine as it successfully launched a strike-capable drone from a vessel underway. Part of Exercise Neptune Reach, the XV Patrick Blackett catapulted a Nyan drone off the south coast of England.

The RAF is buying inflatable missile batteries. It may seem daft, but these lookalike launchers aren't a gag or a ludicrous cost-cutting measure. Part of the new Sting system, their job is to help train fighter pilots in taking out ground-to-air threats.

It looks like the age of the robotic warrior is here. The RAF has revealed that a radar-jamming combat drone called StormShroud will be deployed to support Britain's F-35B Lightning II and Typhoon fighters using lessons learned from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

At this year's Farnborough International Airshow, Britain, Italy and Japan are showing off the latest concept model of the sixth-generation fighter being developed by the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), highlighting its advanced aerodynamics.

The age of uncrewed air combat took a step forward as two Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) JACKAL drones developed by Flyby Technology successfully fired Thales Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM) in tests sponsored by the Royal Air Force.

A Royal Air Force Voyager air-to-air refueling tanker made history on November 16, becoming the world's first in-service military aircraft to complete a flight using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for both engines.

The sixth generation of supersonic stealth fighter planes is on its way. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that the British-led Future Combat Air System initiative's Tempest fighter program will fly a combat air demonstrator by 2027.

Synthetic fuels are not new, nor is their use in aircraft, but the normal practice is to blend them with fossil fuels. The Royal Air Force has now claimed a new record for completing the first ever aircraft flight powered entirely by synthetic fuel.

Britain's Tempest sixth-generation fighter jet is a step closer to reality after the UK Ministry of Defence awarded BAE Systems a contract for £250 million to begin the program's concept and assessment phase.

The companies building the UK's Tempest sixth-generation fighter aircraft have revealed some of the technological concepts that it will incorporate, including a radar system designed to handle as much data per second as a city.

At the virtual 2020 Air and Space Power Conference, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced the UK Ministry of Defence is purchasing a total of 16 Protector RG Mk1 Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) to replace the RAF's Reaper RPAS drone fleet.