The UK Ministry of Defence has shortlisted four British-based firms to develop uncrewed aircraft designed to operate as loyal wingmen for the British Army’s AH-64E Apache attack helicopters under Project NYX. The selected companies are Anduril Industries (UK) Ltd, BAE Systems Operations Ltd, Tekever Ltd and Thales UK Ltd, according to a government announcement.
The quartet will share £10 million in funding during the current concept demonstrator phase, in which each will refine and test designs for autonomous drones able to accompany Apaches on missions such as reconnaissance, precision strike, target acquisition and electronic warfare in contested environments. The MOD said the proposals span a variety of uncrewed air systems featuring advanced autonomy, payloads and sensors, with humans retaining responsibility for any weapons-use decisions.
BAE Systems has disclosed it is working with UK supplier Certo Aerospace and is pitching Certo’s coaxial CAPSTONE drone, while Thales has been collaborating with Austria’s Schiebel on adapting the Camcopter S-301 as a potential wingman platform. Tekever plans to develop a UK-sovereign advanced rotary system with AI-enabled mission autonomy and sensing.
The MOD intends to assess all four designs over the coming months and down-select to as many as two companies in autumn 2026 to build prototypes. If these prove successful, the Army aims to field an operational Apache wingman capability by 2030.