As a military with imperial power, Britain has an obsession to develop the integration between fighter (manned) and drone (drone) - Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T), especially Australia has succeeded in working on the Loyal Wingman-Advanced Development Program - Airpower Teaming System (ATS). Where the combat reconnaissance drone (UCAV) formerly known as the Boeing Loyal Wingman has flown for the first time, won a production contract and bears the name MQ-28A Ghost Bat.
However, unlike Australia, the UK's UCAV project seems to have stalled, even recently it has been officially canceled. Quoted from aviacionline.com (24/6/2022), the British Ministry of Defense has announced that the Mosquito project will not go beyond the design phase.
Spirit AeroSystems, the developer, on the other hand have planned to start testing the full prototype Mosquito in 2023. This is under a £30m contract signed by the UK Ministry of Defence last year.
The UK Ministry of Defense announced that the decision was made by mutual agreement with the project partners. It was reported that the decision marked a change in the direction of the LANCA concept. The Mosquito project is part of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept developed for the British Air Force.
As part of the LANCA concept, the Mosquito was expected to start flying as the Loyal Wingman for the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightnig II fighter jets in the late 2020s. The first unmanned fighter jet, developed as part of the Mosquito project, is scheduled to take off before future fighter jet Tempest, which is expected to be operational in 2035.
Launched in 2015, the LANCA project had three bidders in 2019 for the prototype design and development phase, namely Boeing Defense UK, Blue Bear Systems Research with Team Avenger and Team Blackdawn (later renamed Team Mosquito), consisting of Bombardier Belfast ( now Spirit AeroSystems), Callen-Lenz and Northrop Grumman UK. Team Mosquito were awarded a £30m development contract in January 2021.
With the cancellation of the Mosquito project, for now the power of the British Air Force's combat drones rests on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Protector RG1 (a variant of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian) and the MQ-9A Reaper. While the flagship recon drone rests on the Watchkeeper WK450.
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