Talon IQ is a crewed aircraft used to test autonomy systems and is one of two aircraft in Northrop Grumman’s internally funded Project Talon portfolio. The Navy will use the trial to assess how uncrewed combat aircraft could operate safely and effectively alongside its existing air wing.
“In two days’ time, on this carrier, I will sign a statement of intent with our friends at Northrop Grumman to prepare their Talon demonstrator for trials with the Royal Navy under Project Vanquish,” Jenkins said at the International Sea Power Conference aboard HMS Prince of Wales. Jenkins said the Navy and Northrop Grumman would work toward a demonstration that includes a launch from the carrier.
Project Vanquish calls for an at-sea demonstration of a fixed-wing autonomous aircraft capable of short takeoffs and landings. In its October 2025 request for information, the UK Ministry of Defence specified a jet-powered aircraft capable of high subsonic speeds that could take off and land autonomously on a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier without catapults or arresting wires.
The ministry also called for sufficient payload capacity and endurance to support carrier strike operations. It identified intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, strike and aerial refueling as missions the aircraft could eventually perform in support of the F-35B.
The Royal Navy tested General Atomics’ uncrewed Mojave aircraft from HMS Prince of Wales in 2023. The Talon IQ demonstration would bring a jet-powered aircraft into the Navy’s carrier trials for autonomous systems.
Source: USNI News.
