The UK Royal Navy (RN) is progressing plans to undertake flight trials of a jet-powered Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) from a Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carrier by the end of next year. Speaking at the Defence Leaders CNE 2026 conference in Farnborough on 20 May, Commodore Steve Bolton, Deputy Director Aviation Programmes and Futures, said ... The post Royal Navy progresses towards Project Vanquish demo from aircraft carrier appeared first on Naval News .
The UK Royal Navy is announcing concrete progress towards flight trials of advanced autonomous platforms, signaling an acceleration in defence technological development.
This move highlights the UK's commitment to integrating advanced autonomous systems into its naval air power, potentially redefining future carrier operations and projecting force.
The successful integration of uncrewed jet-powered autonomous platforms will enhance the capabilities and survivability of aircraft carriers, reducing reliance on expensive crewed aircraft for certain missions.
- · UK Defence Industry
- · Royal Navy
- · Autonomous systems manufacturers
- · Defence Tech Sector
- · Traditional crewed aircraft manufacturers (long-term)
- · Adversaries with conventional air defences
The demonstration will validate the feasibility of operating advanced uncrewed aircraft from aircraft carriers.
Other navies will accelerate their own autonomous platform development and integration programs to keep pace.
Future naval air wings could be predominantly uncrewed, leading to significant changes in personnel, logistics, and doctrine.
This signal links to a primary source. Continuum Brief monitors and indexes it as part of the live intelligence stream — we do not republish source content.
Read at Naval News