- Public data indicates that the UK is gradually increasing the number of its military uncrewed systems (UxS)
- Since July 2024, the UK armed forces received over 7,900 UxS
- But as a leading nation in the Coalition of the Willing, the UK aim to develop and deliver 100,000 UxS to Ukraine by April 2026
Modern military platforms are becoming increasingly uncrewed, reducing the toll on human lives where possible, and the UK is making steady progress to that end.
A doctrinal shift was discerned in the UK’s recent defence analyses; in the Strategic Defence Review, published in June 2025, and the Defence Industrial Strategy, issued three months later.
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While the former document revised the future force structure with a hybrid teaming model, the latter considered new procument protocols which not only aimed to speed up dual-use UxS production, but also promised to prioritise the fledgling sector.
The uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) segment alone will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% of over the next decade, according to intelligence from the analytics company, GlobalData.
But as the proven effects of UxS in the Russia-Ukraine war have sunk in, particularly as systems evolved in the past two years – including first-person view and fibre-optic controlled systems – UK Government figures indicate moderate progress.
A delicate balance
In the last 18 months, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has received nearly 7,900 UxS.
Production represents a lot more, however, since the Government has sent more than ten times as many systems to Ukraine.
With an aim to deliver 100,000 military drones to the war-torn country in this fiscal year, which concludes on 5 April, Luke Pollard, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, revealed the UK had reached 85,000 in October 2025.
This balance implies the UK’s strategic policy as a leader of the Coalition of the Willing. This perspective acknowledges the strategic significance of the Russia-Ukraine war on wider European security. This perspective is made more real for the UK when considering Russia’s strategic presence in British waters.
For these reasons, the UK Government supplies Ukrainian forces with UxS, which in turn allows the country to cultivate its own sovereign drone supply chain.
Project Octopus, for example, set up in September 2025, aims to supply thousands of drone interceptors to Ukraine per month. Each unit is said to cost less than 10% of the drone it is designed to destroy, while the design itself is updated every six weeks to stay ahead of Russian tactics.
Modest induction, promising scope
There are some ongoing UxS production initiatives to induct UxS into the UK armed forces.
For example, Project TIQUILA provides the British Army with a small UAS for ISTAR missions.
Delivered by Lockheed Martin UK, TIQUILA UxS take the form of the Eagle (Stalker VXE30) fixed-wing drone and Indago4 quadcopters, designed for brigade and tactical level operations. The MoD reached initial operating capability in spring 2025.
New procurement procedures will soon be in place to expedite UxS production through the MoD’s “segmented approach.” This model splits contracting timelines into three stages, with UxS falling in the fastest segment with a three month delivery time, under rapid commercial innovation. This model is said to be implemented from 1 April.
The MoD are also buying UxS outright from British based suppliers. One notable example is the contract with Kraken for 20 medium sized K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessels for the Royal Navy.
Some degree of ambiguity is necessary “to guard against” the threat of adversary data aggregation, ministers have noted numerous times in parliamentary written statements. But while the number of UxS integrated into the UK military force structure may appear modest at first, the country is making the right decisions to cultivate domestic drone manufacturing.
For example, in June 2025, the UK secured a deal with Ukraine whereby it shares technology data sets from the front line to be plugged into UK production lines.
Such decisions will help the UK to support its own UxS production needs in wartime.
