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UK disposable frontline drones set for 2025 deployment while collaborative platforms await decision

28th March 2024 - 16:45 GMT | by Norbert Neumann in London

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The post-Mosquito combat drone project, launched in November 2022, would fall into the Tier 2 category of ACPs. (Photo: UK RAF/Crown Copyright)

Reflecting on lessons learned from the cancellation of the Mosquito programme, the Royal Air Force has redefined the role of uncrewed systems within its ranks through a tiered system.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) will field an operationally capable, disposable Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) drone system – or family of systems – by the end of 2025, the head of the service said on 27 March.

Delivering the closing keynote speech at the RUSI Combat Air Conference 2024, air chief marshal Sir Richard Knighton emphasised that the RAF's experience with the cancellation of the Mosquito programme (part of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft, or LANCA project) provided valuable insights for reevaluating the role of uncrewed systems within the force. The RAF was poised to implement a tiered system, with

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