BAE Systems Taranis

The BAE Systems Taranis is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator that was primarily developed and built by the British defence contractor BAE Systems Military Air & Information. Other contributing companies included Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation Systems, Smiths Aerospace, and QinetiQ. It is named after the Celtic god of thunder Taranis.

Taranis is designed to fly intercontinental missions autonomously while carrying a variety of weapons that would enable it to attack both aerial and ground targets. Its use of stealth technology reportedly achieves a low radar profile and is controllable via satellite link from anywhere on Earth. Similar in size to the BAE Hawk training jet, Taranis was designed to incorporate and validate stealth technology, fully autonomous operations, systems integration, and control infrastructure.

The existence of Taranis was announced in December 2006 and the assembly of the prototype commenced in February 2008. A series of taxi trials were performed at multiple locations during 2012. On 10 August 2013, the prototype performed its maiden flight. During December 2015, it was announced that the third and final set of flight tests had been completed and that it had achieved all of the established test objectives. In the mid 2010s, Taranis was reportedly planned to be operational "post 2030" and used alongside manned military aircraft. Subsequently, it was intended for the experiences and technologies gained from Taranis to be combined with the French-built Dassault nEUROn UCAV demonstrator to create a joint European UCAV, the Future Combat Air System.

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was a key element of the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy, which was announced in December 2005, and specified the need for the UK to maintain its "sovereign" aircraft and UAV/UCAV construction skills. The Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicles (Experiment) Integrated Project Team, or SUAV(E) IPT, was given responsibility for auditing and overseeing the Taranis project.

During December 2006, the existence of the Taranis project was announced; led by BAE Systems, it also involved Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation Systems, Smiths Aerospace, QinetiQ and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As the prime contractor, BAE Systems was responsible for the overall programme, and also for many of the component technologies, including stealth technology, systems integration and system control infrastructure.^{[unreliable source?]} BAE Systems and QinetiQ collaborated on all aspects relating to autonomous operationss. GE Aviation Systems was responsible for providing Taranis' fuel-gauging and electrical power systems. having a 5% workshare in the project, while the Integrated Systems Technologies (Insyte) subsidiary of BAE Systems provided C4ISTAR support.

At the project's inception, BAE Systems stated that "Taranis will make use of at least 10 years of research and development into low observables, systems integration, control infrastructure and full autonomy. It follows the completion of risk-reduction activities to ensure the mix of technologies, materials and systems used are robust enough for the 'next logical step'." These "risk-reduction activities" included several earlier BAE stealth aircraft and UAV programmes, such as Replica, Nightjar I, Nightjar II, Kestrel, Corax, HERTI, and Mantis.

During September 2007, production activity began on the Taranis prototype, the assembly of which started in February 2008. On 9 January 2009, the Ministry of Defence issued a denial that Taranis had been flying near the site of a damaged wind turbine after local people claimed to have seen a UFO. Later that same year, there were reports of tensions between BAE Systems and the Ministry of Defence over the funding and progress of UCAV development.

The prototype, which had an initial development cost of £143 million, was unveiled by BAE Systems at Warton Aerodrome, Lancashire, on 12 July 2010. That same year, ground-based testing of the prototype commenced. During April 2013, low-speed taxi tests of the prototype commenced at Warton Aerodrome. Months later, it was relocated to an undisclosed test range to conduct high-speed taxi tests.