The Defence Investment Plan presents the shift as a response to lessons from Ukraine, where cheap, precise systems deployed at scale have changed the pace and cost of warfare. Rather than replace high-end crewed platforms, the plan envisages lower-cost autonomous systems providing additional mass alongside more complex conventional capabilities.
The programme extends beyond buying equipment, with money also allocated to testing, technical standards, data frameworks and regulation. The government wants to shorten the path from prototype to operational use and work more closely with industry to field new systems “in weeks not years”.
For the Royal Navy, at least £1.3 billion will support a Hybrid Navy Fleet built around crewed warships connected with autonomous surface and underwater platforms. The planned force will eventually include Type 91 uncrewed missile platforms, Type 92 underwater surveillance systems, Type 93 extra-large uncrewed underwater vessels, Type 94 radar platforms and a future class of Common Combat Vessels.
The Ministry of Defence aims to bring the first large autonomous Hybrid Navy vessels into service by 2030, including a prototype missile platform and extra-large underwater vessels with payloads developed through AUKUS. The investment marks a shift towards distributing sensors and weapons across larger numbers of connected platforms rather than concentrating them solely aboard traditional warships.
Almost £250 million will go to Project PANTHEON, which will begin developing autonomous systems for a Hybrid Carrier Air Wing, while Project VANQUISH will test jet-powered drones operating alongside Britain’s F-35B fighters. The maritime package also includes £1.1 billion for the next phase of an autonomous minehunting programme jointly procured with France and £230 million for autonomous systems protecting critical seabed infrastructure.
On land, Project CORVUS will receive £310 million of additional investment in long-range surveillance and reconnaissance, including new uncrewed aircraft to replace the Army’s legacy Watchkeeper drones. The programme is expected to deliver as many as 24 surveillance aircraft by 2029.
A further £220 million will fund Project NYX, which will develop armed autonomous drones designed to operate alongside upgraded AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. Britain plans to field up to 24 of the aircraft by 2030, integrating them with existing combat capabilities rather than operating them as a separate force.
The government will spend £150 million to start the rapid development and production of uncrewed ground vehicles, including heavy platforms able to carry different payloads and medium vehicles supporting close-combat formations. At least £210 million will finance low-cost, long-range one-way munitions and attack drones for the Army, Navy and RAF.
Another £400 million will support the Land Lethality Pipeline, which will supply inexpensive and expendable autonomous systems and weapons to the Army, Commando Force and Special Forces. That funding includes a £50 million increase for the Army’s RAPSTONE rapid-lethality programme over the next 12 months.
The British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada will provide 2,700 square kilometres of training space for testing and evaluating uncrewed systems. The government intends to use the site’s scale and operating freedom to accelerate development and prepare emerging capabilities for deployment.
In the air domain, £300 million will launch a British Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme, drawing on technology and expertise developed with partners in the Global Combat Air Programme and targeting a demonstrator flight by 2030. A further £50 million will fund air-launched effects such as small drone swarms deployable from crewed and uncrewed aircraft, while the wider plan envisages autonomous jets operating from land bases and aircraft carriers.
The Ministry of Defence will invest £310 million in its new Uncrewed Systems Centre in Swindon, including the recently opened DroneTEX facility. The centre will act as the department’s central authority for common standards, open architectures, data frameworks, assurance and regulation, while coordinating work with industry, allies and international partners.
The plan also gives autonomy an industrial-policy role, presenting the investment as a route to faster innovation, economic growth and export opportunities for British companies. Cooperation with France, AUKUS partners and countries involved in GCAP places part of the programme within a broader network of allied technology development.
The spending figures remain indicative rather than binding and are subject to government approvals, affordability assessments and contracting procedures, according to the document. Individual programmes may be reprioritised, deferred, rescoped or cancelled as the strategic environment, technology and fiscal conditions change.
