The Mosquito Project, the technology demonstration of the UK’s Light and Affordable Combat Aircraft (LANCA) program, has been closed “after the design phase”.
The announcement was made by the Royal Air Force’s Office of Rapid Capabilities on Friday evening.
“Through Project Mosquito and other experiment activities, the RAF has made significant progress and gained significant value in understanding and utilizing a range of future unmanned capabilities,” said Air Commodore Jes Holmes, President of RCO, at the accompanying press release. This decision increases the learning accumulated to date and allows for a change in the direction of the LANCA programme. The Office of Rapid Capabilities will now quickly launch activities to follow up on the RAF’s established commitment to integrating advanced unmanned capabilities into the force mix in the short term with the most immediate beneficial value.”
The decision was made in light of a detailed analysis of the mosquito technology demonstration and the broader LANCA programme. Capabilities analysis and piloting were conducted in parallel by the RAF and the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), leading to the conclusion that exploring smaller, less expensive additive capabilities could be more beneficial to LANCA and more cost-effective. The DSTL is the technical authority of the Department of Defense for the program.
LANCA was launched in 2015 to finally play a “loyal wing” that can operate alongside existing fighters such as the Typhoon and F-35B, and later be part of the Future Combat Air System. Three bidders submitted bids to develop and build Mosquito’s technology demonstration programme, and in January 2021 a team from Spirit AeroSystems (formerly Bombardier Belfast), Callen-Lenz and Northrop Grumman UK was awarded a three-year, £30m contract. . The Mosquito Aerial Vehicle was supposed to fly by the end of 2023.
The decision to terminate Mosquito’s pretend program does not affect the intent to “build the most capable and cost-effective range of forces possible, or loyal wing concepts under investigation in the Future Air Combat System project,” RCO notes in the statement. “The program remains focused on the capacity space beyond 2035, where integration through a systems systems approach has been a key requirement from the start.”
