The first of the pilotless bombers is at least 14 years away. But it is already being envisaged that the successor to the Tornado GR4, the primary ground-attack aircraft, will be an unmanned air vehicle that looks like a miniature version of the American B2 bomber.

Yesterday Lord Drayson, the Defence Procurement Minister, announced a four-year £127 million programme to create a prototype called Taranis. The project is being funded jointly by the Ministry of Defence with BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ and Smiths Aerospace.

Lord Drayson said that Taranis “would revolutionise the way we conduct military operations”. The concept will result in a protoype comparable in size to a Hawk aircraft and will weigh about eight tonnes.

Air Vice-Marshal Chris Moran, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, said that he could foresee the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) being armed with laser weapons.

Air Vice-Marshal Moran and Lord Drayson, speaking to industry representatives in London, ruled out a future air force consisting solely of pilotless aircraft. The plan was to retain a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft, although the ratio of UCAVs and piloted bombers was yet to be decided, they said.

Under present planning, the Eurofighter/Typhoon combat aircraft now coming into service will continue as a frontline fighter and ground-attack aircraft until at least 2040; and the Joint Strike Fighter, which is being developed by the US and Britain for carrier-borne attacks, is intended to remain in service until 2047. “So you won’t see unmanned air vehicles replacing any of the frontline aircraft in the short term,” Air Vice-Marshal Moran said.

He said that an unmanned combat aircraft could be used for tracking and destroying mobile surface-to-air missiles.

Lord Drayson said that Britain had decided to develop the new type of aircraft alone, and would not be involved in any collaborative programme, either with the US or with European partners.

The MoD is negotiating with the US to buy two Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed with Hellfire missiles, for use in Afghanistan next year.

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