BAE Systems announced that its FalconWorks advanced projects division has partnered with Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works to develop Blizzard, a modular, unmanned aircraft built to carry out electronic warfare and attack missions, with the option to launch it from the ground, the air, the sea, or the back of a large military transport plane.
At the Farnborough Airshow, BAE displayed Blizzard for the first time.
Weighing in at around 330 pounds, the 7.7-foot-long vehicle is jet-powered and has pop-out wings with a span of around 5 feet. It can be configured with various payloads for a range of tasks, although initially, the focus is on those intended to disrupt and defeat surface-to-air threats. These include jamming and acting as a decoy. While Blizzard can be carried and launched from combat aircraft, it is also being developed for palletized delivery that allows it to be launched in large numbers from cargo aircraft such as the A400M.
With an open system architecture, the Blizzard can easily be reconfigured with different equipment. This “plug-and-play” approach for both software and hardware allows it to be adapted to different tasks and permits rapid updating with new equipment to meet evolving threats. It also allows the Blizzard to be easily adapted to meet national technology security and sovereignty requirements.
Two of defence’s most secretive labs rarely work together 🤫 This time, they did.
Meet Blizzard: a modular, multi-mission uncrewed air system from BAE Systems FalconWorks and @LockheedMartin Skunk Works®. Multiple launch options. One purpose.
🔗 https://t.co/CBWXKOQ7De pic.twitter.com/H1LWBWl2ki
— BAE Systems (@BAESystemsplc) July 20, 2026
The FalconWorks/Skunk Works team has already conducted captive-carry and release trials and expects to conduct system trials soon, with the aim of having the system production-ready by around the end of the year. Blizzard faces competition from other systems, but its jet power, cruise altitude of 30,000 feet, and range of around 400 nm place it in a class that can more easily support combat aircraft.
FalconWorks and Skunk Works have each built decades-long reputations as the secretive research divisions responsible for their parent companies’ most advanced aircraft programs, the kind of labs that historically develop cutting-edge prototypes largely out of public view until a design is ready to reveal. The two divisions rarely collaborate directly, which makes this partnership notable on its own, and Blizzard represents the first concrete product to emerge from a broader strategic partnership BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin announced in September 2025 at the DSEI defense exhibition in London, an agreement specifically aimed at pooling both companies’ decades of experience building unmanned autonomous aircraft.
Electronic warfare refers to using radio signals to jam, deceive, or disrupt an enemy’s radar and communications systems, effectively blinding or confusing the sensors and networks that a modern military relies on to detect incoming threats. Pairing that jamming capability with an actual attack function lets Blizzard do more than just create confusion, since the aircraft can also strike targets directly once it has degraded an enemy’s ability to see or respond to the threat. BAE Systems described Blizzard as designed to deliver a range of effects while operating either independently or as part of a collective group of aircraft working together, letting multiple Blizzard units coordinate their electronic warfare and strike capabilities against a single target to create what the company calls an operational advantage over adversary systems.
David Holmes, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ FalconWorks business, framed the partnership as a way to move faster than either company could manage working alone.
“Through our collaboration with Lockheed Martin, we’re delivering disruptive capabilities that can make a real difference to our military customers at pace, enabling them to confront the operational requirements of today’s battlefield,”
Holmes said.
Blizzard is expected to complement rather than replace other emerging electronic warfare drones already entering service, including the Royal Air Force’s Storm Shroud system, an uncrewed electronic warfare platform built on Tekever’s AR3 airframe, giving British and allied forces multiple overlapping options for degrading enemy air defenses depending on the specific mission at hand.
Aviation Week reported that BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin are targeting 2028 for the program’s next major milestone, though neither company has disclosed a firm timeline for when Blizzard might actually reach frontline squadrons.
Two defence giants rarely let their most secretive engineering teams work in the same room, let alone on the same aircraft, and that alone signals how seriously both companies are taking the shift toward cheaper, expendable unmanned systems working alongside traditional fighter jets.
Top Photo: Blizzard on display at Farnborough. © David McIntosh/AIN
Sources: Defence Blog; AIN