There is a new one in the Royal Air Force. The British Air Force unveiled, on Friday, May 2, its brand new drone acquisition: Stormshroud on Friday, May 2. An event for military forces across the Channel as hopes for this equipment are numerous. Stormshroud will work jointly with F-35B Lightning and Typhoon fighter planes. Their primary objective: to blur enemy radars to allow these jets to steal as stealthy as possible, making their missions more secure and more efficient.
Stormshroud is not a drone like the army has had it for a few years. Its system is completely independent. Above all, it is largely inspired by the similar tools used since 2022 in the war in Ukraine. On the Ukrainian front, the armies of kyiv and Moscow placed drones at the heart of their military strategy, while adapting to the technological advances of the opposing camp. The British looked at this from afar and were inspired by them.
An embedded electronic system to gain strength and defense capacity in the field
In a press release intended to present Stormshroud, the Royal Air Force explains that the new generation drone is the foundation stone of a new vision of actions on war fields: autonomous collaborative platforms or ACP. Clearly, Stormshroud is not only a drone, it is a set of tools made to support the missions of the Air Force pilots.
-Stormshroud is made up of the TEKEVR AR3 drone, manufactured in Pays-de-Gales and in the Southampton and the British electronic system, developed in Luton. A way to operate and highlight the local defense sector.
What are the forces of the Stormshroud system?
The Ar3 drone has a range of 100 kilometers, weighs 25 kilos and can fly for 16 hours with a cruising speed of 90 km/h. Thanks to the British embedded system, the drone can blur enemy radars, making the jets in which are almost invisible men. BriteTorm may even issue false signals that radars will take for planes.
All this technology has its price. The Royal Air Force has already invested 22.4 million euros in the production of Tekever drones. A hundred should be released from factories this year. A few hundred additional thousands of euros will be injected into the project in the next five years. The Royal Air Force 216 squadron, responsible for driving drone management since 2020, has been in control of ACP Stormshroud.
