Britain’s new StormShroud drones to jam enemy radars
Baku, May 4, AZERTAC
The Royal Air Force’s new autonomous drones, dubbed StormShroud, will be fitted with Leonardo’s cutting-edge BriteStorm electronic warfare payload, enhancing the UK’s ability to suppress and deceive enemy air defences, according to ukdefencejournal.
The system will be integrated onto a fleet of Tekever AR3 uncrewed air systems (UAS) entering service with the RAF under the StormShroud designation. According to the RAF, the integration aims to provide UK Armed Forces with a new capability to counter increasingly sophisticated air defence systems.
The drones will fly alongside crewed aircraft as part of crucial RAF frontline missions, to knock out enemy air defences.
BriteStorm is described as a “stand-in jammer”—a compact, platform-agnostic system designed to fly ahead of high-value, crewed combat aircraft. Once deployed, it targets integrated air defence systems (IADS), aiming to degrade adversary radar tracking and targeting capabilities. The payload achieves this through high-powered digital jamming and deception techniques developed at Leonardo’s site in Luton.
Leonardo explained that the system consists of a Miniature Techniques Generator (MTG) and tailored Transmit Receive Modules (TRMs). Its lightweight, low-power design enables integration across a wide range of uncrewed platforms.
Additionally, BriteStorm supports open software architecture to allow configuration against specific threats, with operators able to update its capabilities based on mission intelligence and operational feedback.
The system is also designed with attritability in mind—while it is reusable and rapidly reprogrammable after missions, its destruction in support of higher-value assets is considered an acceptable operational outcome.
Research and development of BriteStorm began in 2017 at Leonardo’s Luton facility, a major UK hub for electronic warfare technology. The site employs over 1,200 people and invested nearly £175 million with British suppliers in 2024. Leonardo is also a key contributor to the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and Eurofighter Typhoon upgrade projects.
StormShroud was developed by the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office and the Catalyst team within Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). The system is entering service with 216 Squadron and will be operated by both regular and reserve personnel.
Leonardo and other industry partners will provide ongoing support as the capability matures.
BriteStorm itself is a compact, stand-in electronic warfare payload developed by Leonardo in the UK to disrupt and deceive enemy radar and air defence systems. Designed for deployment on small uncrewed aircraft or missiles, as outlined above, BriteStorm uses high-powered digital jamming and deception techniques to degrade the performance of integrated air defence networks. The system comprises a Miniature Techniques Generator (MTG) and Transmit Receive Modules (TRMs), and is platform-agnostic, allowing for integration across a range of airframes.
With a reprogrammable software architecture and support for rapid mission data updates, BriteStorm is, it is understood, intended to remain adaptable in the face of evolving threats.
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