Overview
- The full-size aircraft lifted off from Predannack Airfield in Cornwall’s National Drone Hub after ground testing at Leonardo’s Yeovil site.
- During two short sorties, it controlled its own flight systems autonomously under the safety supervision of test pilots on the ground.
- Built under a roughly £60 million program, the prototype is intended for experimentation rather than immediate production or service entry.
- Designed for maritime missions such as anti-submarine warfare and patrol, it offers a payload over one tonne with a modular bay sized for NATO pallet loads.
- Leonardo and the Royal Navy say the program supports about 100 skilled UK jobs and places Britain among a small number of nations developing full-size autonomous rotorcraft.