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Blizzard
FARNBOROUGH, England–An autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) being developed by BAE Systems’ FalconWorks and Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works is moving toward flight testing next year, with the aim of reaching the market in 2028.
The product—christened Blizzard by the two companies—has completed captive-carry trials and is proposed for carriage on crewed fighters to decoy and suppress enemy air defenses. The approximately 400-lb. air vehicle, details of which were first revealed by the two companies at last year’s Defense Security Equipment International (DSEI) event in London, is a subsonic, cruise-missile-like boxy airframe with some low-observability features that has been designed with an open systems architecture to carry electronic warfare (EW) payloads for stand-in jamming.
“Blizzard will complement end effects in the battlespace,” Anthony Gregory, BAE’s FalconWorks business development and strategy director, told journalists July 20 on the opening day of the Farnborough Airshow here. “It will enable other systems to do the job they need to do by decoying, suppressing very hostile threats.”
Although the airframe has links with Skunk Works’ Common Multi-Mission Truck CMMT air vehicle family, Gregory says the development is “truly a joint design effort,” with parts and components from both UK and U.S. genus, he said.
Although Blizzard is designed to work with crewed fighters to help them punch a hole through enemy air defenses, the two companies also are exploring options for palletized release from transport aircraft like the Airbus A400M and Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules.
Gregory said Blizzard would complement a platform like the Royal Air Force’s Storm Shroud Tekever AR3-based uncrewed EW platform, providing options to deliver an EW warfare effect at a greater range or speed or to be coordinated with other fast jet aircraft. Gregory said platforms like the Blizzard would provide choice to military commanders to enable a best mix of solutions for a mission.
Blizzard is among a growing number of multirole ACP platforms being developed by industry. Last May, Spain’s Indra revealed its Valero expendable but also recoverable ACP. Germany’s Diehl is working on its under-300-kg-class turbojet powered Feanix–short for Future Effector Adaptable, Networked, Intelligent, eXpendable–remote carrier that was unveiled at the 2024 Berlin ILA Air Show.
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