Reference · Glossary

A glossary of Brontanax, drone warfare and combat-air technology

Working definitions for the programme, doctrine and technology terms used throughout this site. Curated from open-source reporting and official statements.

Brontanax StormFighter Project Mosquito GCAP Tempest Project Vanquish CCA Loyal wingman MUM-T Autonomy Combat mass Sovereign capability Low observable Radar cross-section Open architecture Ground segment MQ-28 Ghost Bat Increment 1 CCA Shahed / Lancet

Programme & platforms

Brontanax: BAE Systems' UK-designed Collaborative Combat Aircraft, unveiled at Farnborough International Airshow 2026. Intended to team with Typhoon initially and with the GCAP Tempest fighter from the 2030s.
StormFighter: The RAF's name for the programme that will field Brontanax. Successor to the earlier UK loyal-wingman demonstrator Project Mosquito, which was cancelled.
Project Mosquito: Earlier UK loyal-wingman demonstrator programme, cancelled before flight. Provided lessons and technology inheritance for StormFighter.
GCAPGlobal Combat Air Programme: Trilateral UK–Italy–Japan programme developing the Tempest sixth-generation crewed fighter that will eventually team with Brontanax.
Tempest: Sixth-generation crewed fighter under development through GCAP. Long-term teaming partner for Brontanax from the 2030s.
Project Vanquish: Royal Navy exploration of a jet-powered uncrewed carrier aircraft. Not formally linked to Brontanax, but BAE promotional material has hinted at a possible future carrier fit.

Concepts & doctrine

CCACollaborative Combat Aircraft: An uncrewed military aircraft designed to operate alongside a crewed fighter, carrying sensors, electronic-warfare equipment or weapons so the manned aircraft can manage the fight rather than fly every task.
Loyal wingman: A CCA that stays close to a crewed fighter, accepts commands from it, and often exposes or sacrifices itself to protect the manned platform.
MUM-TManned-Unmanned Teaming: The doctrine and technology that lets a pilot in a crewed aircraft direct one or more drones without hand-flying each one. Depends on secure data-links, shared situational awareness, and clear rules on which decisions the human keeps.
Autonomy: In the CCA context, not full independence — the ability of the aircraft to perform tasks such as route planning, sensor cueing and formation keeping within boundaries set by human operators.
Combat mass: The fleet-scale numbers of airframes, ground stations, spares, munitions and trained crews required for CCAs to operate in the ratios of two or more per crewed fighter envisaged by doctrine.
Sovereign capability: The ability of a nation to design, build, sustain and upgrade a system using its own supply chain and intellectual property. Emphasised by the MoD and BAE as a core Brontanax selling point.

Airframe & signature

Low observableStealth: Airframe shaping, materials and systems that reduce an aircraft's radar, infrared, acoustic and visual signature. Brontanax uses a delta wing with canted twin tails and a belly intake to reduce its frontal radar cross-section.
Radar cross-sectionRCS: A measure of how detectable an aircraft is by radar. Lower RCS values are achieved through shaping, radar-absorbent materials and careful management of edges, gaps and intakes.
Open architecture: Aircraft designed with standard interfaces, software tools and hardware slots so third-party sensors, weapons and mission systems can be added without a complete redesign. Central to BAE's export pitch for Brontanax.
Ground segment: The complete set of stations, networks, planning tools and training systems that command and sustain an uncrewed aircraft from the ground.

Comparators

MQ-28 Ghost Bat: Australian-designed loyal wingman now being developed by Boeing. The most mature Western CCA design outside the United States.
Increment 1 CCA: US Air Force CCA programme that has selected General Atomics and Anduril prototypes to fly alongside F-22 and F-35 fighters.
Shahed / Lancet: Iranian- and Russian-origin one-way attack drones widely used in the Ukraine war. Cheap attritable systems at the opposite end of the spectrum from a CCA like Brontanax.

Definitions are editorial summaries drawn from open-source reporting, official BAE Systems and Ministry of Defence statements, and industry technical literature. See the Intelligence log for daily analysis, and the Specifications page for the underlying airframe data.