BAE Systems revealed at the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow on 22 July that it has completed the development of a new collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), which it has now announced is called Brontanax.

The unveiling at the show of a full-size model of the aircraft’s fuselage shape was presided over by new UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, along with Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, the head of the Royal Air Force (RAF), during a ceremony inside BAE Systems’ Hall 5.

Noting that the previous week, on 16 July, UK Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard had launched the UK’s autonomous CCA programme under the name Storm Fighter, backed by GBP 300 million under the recently announced UK Defence Investment Plan, Streeting stated that this “will create new procurement pathways and reform how we partner with industry to deliver modern capabilities to our armed forces at base. It matters because we must match the speed at which our adversaries are developing AI technology.

“With this launch today,” Streeting added, “BAE are delivering on that, and we will adopt this as our operational concept demonstrator, and we’re going to get it in the air in 2027. This is a ground-breaking moment for UK defence, not just for air power, but for reindustrialisation. … This launch shows that our UK industry is at the forefront of innovation and that we are open for business.”

ACM Smyth stated at the Brontanax unveiling, “With this launch, we are witnessing the start of a meaningful pivot towards sixth-generation air power, where uncrewed air systems integrate seamlessly with our crewed platforms, exponentially increasing our survivability, our lethality, and ultimately our conventional deterrence … .

“Control of the air is the absolute prerequisite for military success,” asserted the RAF chief. “It is the baseline from which all options flow, and achieving it is an active, exhausting defensive battle. Today’s dangerous world has proved that, whilst we must shield our sovereign territory, we must also possess the capability to project offensive power. And to meet these evolving requirements, the Royal Air Force is updating its blueprint for the future by completely resetting our combat air strategy. This ensures the Royal Air Force maintains an unbroken combat edge through the coming decades, transitioning us away from the legacy models we’re used to, to an integrated, crewed and uncrewed, software- and AI-driven force: a very clear pathway towards the RAF becoming Europe’s first sixth-generation air force.”

Explaining how Brontanax relates to Storm Fighter in a briefing after the launch ceremony, Simon Barnes, Group Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Air Sector said, “Storm Fighter is the RAF’s CCA programme of record; Brontanax is our answer to that.”

Brontanax (the name of which is derived from the ancient Greek for ‘Thunder King’) is intended to enhance the RAF’s combat mass and operational effectiveness by operating alongside crewed frontline combat aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, providing electronic warfare and precision strike capabilities against airborne and ground targets.

David Holmes, managing director of BAE Systems’ FalconWorks rapid development arm, noted in the post-ceremony briefing that the Brontanax programme started in 2022 with the study of concepts and requirements. The air vehicle itself was then designed and delivered through the FalconWorks team, with BAE Systems investing more than GBP 400 million (EUR 469 million) in self-funded research and development in 2025 to produce the prototype at its facilities in Warton, Lancashire.

Similar in size to a BAE Systems Hawk jet trainer, Brontanax has a maximum take-off weight that exceeds five tonnes, according to Holmes. He added that the aircraft currently has a Williams engine, but will ultimately be propelled by a powerplant from Rolls-Royce’s Orpheus family that is currently under development. He said of Rolls-Royce, “They are confident that they can upscale from their current developments and meet not only the thrust requirements but, of course, meet the price point.”

Holmes noted that a power-up of the Brontanax prototype is scheduled for the third quarter of this year, after which ground trials will be conducted in the first half of 2027 before the aircraft first takes to the air in the second half of that year. Assuming that the RAF ultimately selects it, Brontanax is intended to have an initial operating capability before 2030 and the programme is very much on a production-standard footing.

Describing the future capabilities of Brontanax, Holmes noted that, in designing it, “we think that range and endurance will be key” and said Brontanax will benefit from “a proud heritage within BAE Systems in terms of our knowledge around survivability and all the underpinning technologies that sit with that”.

Holmes mentioned that the platform could be employed in a variety of ways. As well as being operated by a crewed combat platform, he said, it could also be directed by a ground control station, as with current unmanned aerial vehicles, or even operated from an aircraft carrier with modifications such as the strengthening of the undercarriage and the installation of arrestor gear. This could be achieved, he said, through “fairly easy inline modifications rather than duplicate production lines”.

Regarding carrier launches, Holmes said, “All the simulation we’ve undertaken so far says that we can address that without the need for catapults”, meaning that operations from the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class carriers would be feasible.

Developed with an open architecture and modular design, Brontanax “can be easily adapted to stay ahead of evolving threats, maintaining operational relevance and adaptability for years to come”, according to BAE Systems. These features also offer plug-and-play reconfigurability for export customers requiring the installation of their own systems.

“This is why we spend so much time understanding how we lay this vehicle out, rather than dashing and doing, trying to build something to fly,” said Holmes. “Everybody knows we can build things that fly. This is actually about doing this once and doing it right. Depending on the complexity of what you’re asking to be brought in, one thing I know is we can develop the integration piece and test in a synthetic world quicker than the OEMs could produce the equipment swap to go in.”