The U.K. Ministry of Defense has revealed plans for a new Royal Air Force squadron that will operate a fleet of unmanned aircraft able to fly networked together as a swarm. Depending on how the program evolves, it might involve the fielding of a true unmanned combat air vehicle, or UCAV, or at least serve as a stepping stone to realizing such an operational capability. U.K. Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson briefly mentioned the swarm project in a wide-ranging speech on the future of the country’s armed forces at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank on Feb. 11, 2019. The drones were among the many programs the Ministry of Defense is paying for through a new, flexible “Transformation Fund," which has the intended goal of helping speed up the development of new and advanced capabilities across the country's armed forces as a whole.

“I have decided to use the Transformation Fund to develop swarm squadrons of network enabled drones capable of confusing and overwhelming enemy air defenses,” Williamson said in his remarks. “We expect to see these ready to be deployed by the end of this year.” His stated schedule for when the drones might enter service has already caused some confusion. An official statement from the Ministry of Defense has contradicted this timeline, saying that the unmanned aircraft are still years away from being ready for actual missions.

“The RAF will form a new squadron with a new concept, able to deploy swarms of network-enabled drones,” a Ministry of Defense spokesperson told U.K. Defense Journal later on Feb. 11, 2019. “The details of who will build the drones, the tender process and the technology which will be employed, will be developed over the 3-year program.” A “tender process” means that the United Kingdom plans to hold a competition to pick a winning design rather than issue a sole-source contract to one particular company. It is possible that Williamson was actually indicating that the final selection of a particular drone would occur before the end of 2019. The Ministry of Defense could conceivably approve a more limited buy of unmanned aircraft that meet a minimum of basic requirements in order to help quickly stand up the new RAF squadron and begin the process of training personnel on their new mission ahead of the full tender process. Williamson’s might be using the Transformation Fund to support this initial effort and jumpstart the program.

Crown Copyright The RAF recently began receiving new Protector unmanned aircraft, derived from the MQ-9 Reaper, which are not capable of performing the missions that Defense Secretary Williamson outlined in his recent speech.