The British Army’s Apache helicopters are formidable platforms. The AH-64E variant – which the UK is currently upgrading its fleet to – carries Hellfire missiles, a 30mm M230 chain gun, and a sensor suite that can identify and engage targets at extended range. They are also expensive, crewed, and conspicuous. In modern combat, they operate in environments where they face sophisticated air defence systems, electronic warfare, and the kind of saturation threat that makes every sortie a risk-versus-reward calculation.
Project NYX is the Army’s answer to part of that problem. Announced on 15 May 2026, the programme will develop autonomous uncrewed air systems designed to operate as loyal wingmen alongside Apache crews – flying reconnaissance, precision strike, target acquisition, and electronic warfare missions that currently require putting crewed aircraft in harm’s way.
How it works
The concept draws directly on lessons from Ukraine, where cheap autonomous systems have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to outperform expensive conventional platforms in certain mission sets. NYX drones won’t replace the Apache – they’ll extend what it can do while keeping the crew at a safer remove from the most dangerous parts of the mission envelope.
Crucially, Apache pilots will benefit from NYX without needing to control the drones directly. The systems are designed to operate with a high degree of autonomy, processing the battlefield picture and providing the crewed aircraft with targeting and situational awareness data. All weapons decisions, however, remain with a human operator – a design constraint that is both ethically important and, given the current state of the law of armed conflict, legally necessary.
The Defence Investment Plan committed £220 million to the programme, with a target of fielding up to 24 armed autonomous drones by 2030.
The competition
Four industry teams were selected in May 2026 to compete in the initial concept development phase: Anduril UK, BAE Systems, Tekever, and Thales UK. This is a strong field. Anduril brings its Altius and Fury platforms and deep experience of US autonomous systems doctrine; BAE brings domestic defence, industrial credibility and integration experience; Tekever – also behind the AR3 that underpins StormShroud – brings proven UK-manufactured UAS hardware; and Thales brings sensor and integration expertise.
Over the coming months the four teams will refine and demonstrate their concepts. The MoD expects to narrow the field to no more than two contenders in autumn 2026, with those surviving teams entering advanced development before a contract award and route to 2030 operational capability.
The bigger picture
NYX sits within the £5 billion autonomous systems investment announced in the Defence Investment Plan – the largest single drone commitment in UK Armed Forces history. The RAF has StormShroud and is developing Storm Fighter. The Royal Navy is building a hybrid fleet of unmanned surface and underwater vessels. The Army, until NYX, was the service with the least mature autonomous capability development programme. That gap is now being addressed.
The choice to anchor NYX around the Apache is telling. The Army isn’t trying to field autonomous systems as a standalone capability – it’s building them as force multipliers for its most capable crewed platforms. That’s a pragmatic approach, and one that reflects how autonomous systems have actually been used effectively in Ukraine: not as replacements for conventional capability, but as asymmetric extensions of it.
Whether 24 drones by 2030 is ambitious enough is a reasonable question. But as a start, it’s a credible one.
