UK to invest GBP5 billion for autonomous systems and directed energy weapons

A first-person view Nero UAV being used by British army soldiers during exercise ‘Project Convergence Capstone 5' at Fort Irwin, California, on 12 March 2025. (UK MoD/Crown Copyright)

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced a GBP5 billion (USD6.7 billion) technology investment package with GBP4 billion (USD5.4 billion) allocated for autonomous systems and a further GBP1 billion (USD1.3 billion) for directed energy weapons (DEWs).

More than GBP2 billion (USD2.7 billion) of the autonomous systems investment includes new funding, which will see the development of unmanned systems with improved accuracy and lethality, said the MoD in a 2 June press release. The UK's Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published on 2 June, recommends incorporating unmanned and autonomous systems in high numbers over the next five years.

In addition, what the MoD called a new “drone centre” will be established to increase the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across the UK's armed forces. The centre will apply lessons from Ukraine when it comes to UAV warfare, develop best practices, and manage interaction with the defence industry, according to the MoD.

The DEW capabilities will be created for the British Army this decade, according to the release, in tandem with four Royal Navy warships to be equipped with the DragonFire laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system. The first ship to be fitted is a Type 45 destroyer, scheduled to take place in 2027.

DragonFire is a 50 kW-class LDEW developed by an MBDA UK-led consortium, including Leonardo and QinetiQ. As previously reported by Janes, MBDA UK is responsible for system integration, command-and-control (C2), and image processing capabilities; Leonardo provides the high-precision electro-optic beam director; and QinetiQ is responsible for the laser source.