A UK manufacturing giant will start building killer drones described as “small fighter jets”, as firms look to capitalise on European powers ramping up their defence spending. GKN Aerospace is an aerospace components business owned by parent company Melrose Industries, and based in Birmingham.

GKN has an established reputation for producing aircraft parts for the likes of Airbus and Boeing, but with European countries now investing heavily in their militaries and defence industries to deter Russia’s aggression, it’s joining other major players in looking to add Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with military applications to its repertoire. Since Putin’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, attack drones have become a key component for both nations’ armies, with rapid innovation in terms of jamming, guidance and targeting continuing as the war enters its fifth year.

Other European powers, including Britain, have recognised the important role they may play in future conflicts, amid fears that Moscow’s territorial ambitions may one day stretch beyond Ukraine, with drones becoming one of the fast-growing areas of the global defence industry, The Telegraph reports.

GKN’s move into the drone production space comes as both Boeing and Airbus face ongoing supply chain bottlenecks that have impacted the UK firm’s income in the civil aerospace part of their business.

But while small, cheap, makeshift drones have predominated over the battlefields of Ukraine, GKN is looking to build larger models designed to fly in formation alongside piloted aircraft, as per the newspaper.

These “loyal wingmen” are typically jet-propelled and partially powered by AI, increasing an air force’s reconnaissance and strike capabilities without putting additional lives in harm’s way.

Melrose chief executive Peter Dilnot said there has been a “significant uptick in spending on sovereign capability in Europe, reading through at different paces depending on the government and national balance sheets” with accelerated development in UAVs.

He added that while he can’t discuss most of these projects, the company is busy in almost all the countries it operates in to rapidly develop UAV capability.

Giving a sense of what the vehicles could look like, Mr Dilnot said: “Things come in all sorts of shapes and sizes depending on the mission but I’d describe them as small fighter jets.”

Mr Dilnot said their new push into the drone market may mean they have to operate as an aircraft manufacturer in some cases, and assembling complete machines – having previously been focused only on parts for plane makers to use.

GKN has already been awarded a contract by Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to develop a clean sheet uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator, a platform Stockholm can use to test unmanned technologies and assess its operational needs.

It’s also partnered up with US start-up Anduril to join the bidding for a contract to produce reconnaissance, surveillance and attack drones to operate alongside the British Army’s fleet of Apache attack helicopters.