IMH 2026: UK Royal Navy charts MATX progress towards future hybrid airwing

A General Atomics artwork at Farnborough 2024 shows a UK Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier equipped with an unmanned airwing of the future. (General Atomics via Janes/Gareth Jennings)

The UK Royal Navy (RN) has stepped up its drive towards a future hybrid airwing of crewed and uncrewed aircraft, making significant advances over recent months under its Maritime Aviation Transformation Strategy (MATX).

Speaking under the Chatham House Rule at the IQPC International Military Helicopter (IMH) 2026 conference in London, an official noted that MATX is now “firmly embedded in defence capability planning” following endorsement in the UK's Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published in June 2025.

“The guiding principle of the strategy is clear – uncrewed where possible, crewed where necessary,” the official said on 24 February, noting that the SDR specifically called for the development of a hybrid airwing to blend traditional crewed aircraft with autonomous and remotely piloted systems.

This approach moves away from what the official described as a “successionist equipment programme mindset”, in which platforms are simply replaced like for like. Instead, the RN is adopting a platform-agnostic model focused on effects. “We are removing any lingering tendency to think in terms of [one helicopter] replacing another,” the official said. “We are looking where the inherent attributes of height, speed, and reach provided by ‘air' will offer a compelling opportunity to host new capabilities.”