The Royal Air Force is considering acquiring wingman drones to accompany manned fighters in combat.Buying in large numbers inexpensive but highly-capable unmanned aerial vehicles could help the RAF to add “volume” to its over-stretched forces.The RAF in July 2019 announced the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft, codename “Project Mosquito.”LANCA “will produce a preliminary system design for an unmanned air vehicle and assessment of the key risk areas and cost-capability trade-offs for an operational concept,” the U.K. defense ministry stated. “Initial flight test of the demonstrator air vehicle could take place as early as 2022.”The Project Mosquito’s capabilities could include swarming. "The swarm will hunt for enemy radar and
missile systems and then cue our other aircraft to avoid or destroy them,” the defense ministry told Jane's.LANCA aims to deliver “dramatic reductions in traditional cost and development timeline,” according to the defense ministry. A single F-35 manned fighter today costs around $100 million.The RAF views a fast, armed wingman drone as an affordable way to add mass its fighter force. The U.K. air arm in mid-2019 operates just 119 fighters, the lowest number in its history.