Today’s bold remotely piloted aircraft technologies are shaping an even bolder vision for the future

The British military leads the world in remotely piloted aircraft systems — and it’s poised to pull even further ahead.

The Royal Air Force’s new Protector RG Mk 1 is the most advanced such aircraft of its kind, and the fleet is expanding with new deliveries. The Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales supported the first takeoff and landing by a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft. And service leaders still are leaning forward.

Adm. Ben Key, the U.K.’s First Sea Lord, said recently that the fleet looks ahead to a time when the air wings of both the navy’s aircraft carriers are made up entirely of uncrewed aircraft.

Even a few years ago, that might have seemed far-fetched. Today, the technology to make it possible is all available now.

That starts with the Protector, which is the RAF’s version of the aircraft also known as the MQ-9B SkyGuardian®, supplied by San Diego-based manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., with significant British contributions.

Protector is larger, with longer wings, more payload capacity, better endurance, and all-around improved capabilities compared with its older sibling, MQ-9A Reaper. Its V-tails and other components are built throughout the United Kingdom and then become part of the production aircraft when they are assembled in California.

The RAF’s program calls for 16 aircraft, which are being delivered now. This fleet is vastly more capable for a number of key missions around the U.K. and the world; the aircraft can deploy anywhere with a very light footprint. Their pilots and mission crews never leave Lincolnshire, however, because they can fly the Protector anywhere it goes via a satellite link.

Protector doesn’t just bring a step change in military capability for the RAF and the U.K. It’s an aviation pioneer overall because it’s fully certifiable to fly in all classes of airspace, mixing with other air traffic — the first type of unmanned aircraft that can do so. It’s possible because of a novel Detect and Avoid System built into the platform that gives its pilots the same situational awareness in their ground control station that pilots have in a conventional cockpit.

Cameras, radars, and other sensors let the aircraft sense and keep clear of other aircraft and vice versa. Meanwhile, Protector’s pilots talk on the radio with air traffic control authorities in the same manner as traditional aircrews.

The milestones reached by Protector already have prompted discussion about a new variant of the aircraft, one that would trade some of its record-setting endurance for a versatile short takeoff and landing capability.

Dubbed MQ-9B STOL by General Atomics, this aircraft would use the common fuselage and internal components of the existing aircraft with a new wing and tail kit. The resulting aircraft could become airborne with much less ground roll than the original Protector and operate from a wide variety of new environments.

These could include austere airfields, football pitches, roads, or ships at sea. MQ-9B STOL could confuse adversaries by eschewing known large air bases — making it much more difficult to find and target — and aid British and allied forces by keeping up with them as they maneuver through countryside or push ashore from a ship at sea.

This was part of the significance of the 2023 demonstration aboard the HMS Prince of Wales, in which a demonstrator aircraft named Mojave made its historic first flight operations. Mojave is a slightly modified version of the smaller Gray Eagle aircraft. MQ-9B STOL would be larger, with better onboard equipment, and would offer greater range and endurance.

Indeed, a Sea Protector, as some already have dubbed the MQ-9B STOL concept, would unlock huge new capabilities not only for British forces on land but also the Royal Navy itself as a maritime patrol aircraft. Sea Protector could provide fleet defense for the carrier task group, hunt submarines, and take on many other critical new roles.

MQ-9B is the only aircraft of its kind proven in these and other naval missions. In international exercises in the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere, aircraft have detected and tracked submerged submarine targets, served as fleet communications relays, escorted warships, and more.

Sea Protector would provide significant new intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and combat power for the Royal Navy, but the fleet also has other important missions. For those, the admiralty could select the carrier variant of a groundbreaking new fleet of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), known as the Gambit Series.

Gambit is an autonomous fighter aircraft built from the wheels up for the air dominance mission. It would augment the carriers’ current wing of F-35B Lightning II fighters or, in some cases, take their place on some missions.

Gambit is a modular jet built on a common “core,” like the frame and chassis of a car, which can be modified as needed with different features and produced in high quantities much quicker and more cheaply than a comparable traditional human-piloted fighter.

With the support of the U.S. and U.K. governments, the Royal Navy could bring these aircraft to the HMS Prince of Wales and its sister, HMS Queen Elizabeth. In short order, this would allow these and other allied governments to bring high quantities of combat power into effect — more “mass,” as tacticians call it — in order to meet and exceed the potential numbers of adversaries they could face in a crisis or conflict.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is well into building these new UCAVs, having validated the concept with the first flight of the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station, developed in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, in February of this year. Meanwhile, its affiliated company, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, is building the world’s most advanced aircraft handling equipment for aircraft carriers: the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System, or EMALS, and the Advanced Arresting Gear, or AAG. EMALS and AAG sail and operate today aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS John F. Kennedy; they’re also set for the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller and the French Navy’s new aircraft carrier, known by its French initials PANG.

The British government could incorporate these systems onto its two carriers, giving them the ability to handle UCAVs in addition to the flight operations that use the ships’ angled ramp at the bow. These modifications, along with a wing of Sea Protectors and naval UCAVs, are the way to reach the goal for the Royal Navy to field an all-uncrewed air wing.

Realizing this vision would require diplomacy, time, and some investment, but all the underlying technology is not only possible and not only complete; it’s also well proven — and in operation today. With the appropriate support from Washington and London, General Atomics is ready and able to turn the vision into reality.