Future Air Dominance System (FADS) – At a Glance
Last Updated: August 2026
Our quick reference guide to the Future Air Dominance System (FADS) Programme, the Royal Navy’s strategy for delivering Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defence and long-range strike from the mid-2030s onward.
Future Air Dominance System (FADS) Programme overview
- This is a strategic, multi-domain ‘system-of-systems’ designed to deliver Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defence (M-IAMDS) and long-range strike from the mid-2030s onward.
- The June 2026 Defence Investment Plan fundamentally reshaped how FADS will be delivered: the Type 83 destroyer, previously the planned host platform, was cancelled. In its place, FADS will be now be built around a Hybrid Navy of autonomous surface and underwater platforms, commanded by crewed Common Combat Vessels (CCV).
- FADS remains structured to integrate ships, aircraft, uncrewed systems and command networks to achieve layered, disaggregated defence across the air, surface, and littoral domains.
The Hybrid Navy: FADS’ new platform architecture
The ambitious Defence Investment Plan (29 June 2026) introduced four new uncrewed platform types that will form the backbone of the FADS delivery:
- Type 91 – An uncrewed autonomous surface vessel (70–75 metres) capable of carrying and firing missiles. Effectively an unmanned strike ship.
- Type 92 – An autonomous anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform (90 metres), designed to conduct persistent undersea surveillance without the crew costs of a crewed frigate.
- Type 93 – An extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle (XLUUV) designed to operate alongside crewed submarines in anti-ship and undersea strike roles.
- Type 94 – An uncrewed radar and sensor picket platform (100 metres, up to 3,000 tonnes), providing persistent fleet and homeland air defence coverage.
- Common Combat Vessels (CCV) – At least six crewed ships confirmed, serving as command nodes to direct and coordinate the autonomous platforms.
Construction dates for the Type 91–94 platforms are, as of August 2026, not yet confirmed, and as we said, this looks like a highly ambitious programme, but it’s an indication of the stet of play in maritime warfare thinking right now.
What happens to the Type 45s?
With the Type 83 cancelled, the six Type 45 Daring-class destroyers will remain in service into the 2040s. The June 2026 DIP confirmed that DragonFire, MBDA’s 50kW high-energy laser weapon, will be fitted to at least two Type 45s by 2027, supplementing their Aster missile load against drone and missile threats.
AI-driven force management
FADS retains its FTEWA (Force Threat Evaluation and Weapon Assignment) architecture, powered by AI/ML, which will enable rapid, optimised sensor-effector coordination across the crewed and uncrewed fleet.
Programme status (as of August 2026)
- The Defence Investment Plan (June 2026) confirmed £1.3 billion over four years for the Hybrid Navy programme.
- The Strategic Outline Business Case was previously approved and added to the UK Government’s Major Project Portfolio.
- Build start dates for the Type 91–94 platforms and the CCV have not yet been announced.
- The programme remains at concept and early development phase for the new platform types.
Strategic importance
- Regarded by the Royal Navy’s First Sea Lord as “the navy’s highest priority future capability.”
- Designed to protect the UK’s Carrier Strike Force and Littoral Strike Groups, and reinforce NATO task group capabilities.
- The distributed autonomous architecture is intended to be harder to attack and destroy than a conventional crewed fleet – the loss of one node does not degrade the whole network.
- Ensures continuity of the Royal Navy’s maritime air defence posture against evolving threats including hypersonic missiles, UAV swarms, and A2/AD systems.
- Whether the Hybrid Navy can deliver on FADS’ original ambitions depends on build timelines the Government has so far declined to specify. The autonomous platform technology it relies on has not yet been proven at operational scale by any navy.
For more detail on the Hybrid Navy decision and the Type 91–94 platforms, see our full analysis: The Royal Navy’s new hybrid fleet: meet the Type 91, 92, 93 and 94
