The UK’s first autonomous full-size helicopter, the Leonardo PROTEUS, has completed its maiden flight at Predannack airfield in Cornwall.
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Royal Navy Press Release, Whale Island, 16 January 2026: [Extracts] British aviation history has been made with the UK’s first truly autonomous full-size helicopter completing its maiden flight, operating from Predannack airfield in Cornwall. The helicopter has been designed and built by Leonardo as a demonstrator for the Royal Navy, to unlock the potential of uncrewed aerial systems, operating them side-by-side with crewed aircraft in a future ‘hybrid air wing’, and potentially at the heart of future anti-submarine operations as part of the Atlantic Bastion strategy.
Just weeks after completing comprehensive ‘ground running’ trials at Leonardo’s Yeovil site – where the helicopter’s systems, sensors and engines were tested before PROTEUS lifted off the ground – engineers, technicians and representatives from Leonardo, the Royal Navy and UK Defence Innovation watched history in the making on the Lizard Peninsula. Predannack serves as the satellite airfield for helicopters based at nearby RNAS Culdrose, near Helston, but is also key to developing uncrewed/autonomous systems as the National Drone Hub.
The Royal Navy operates several drones – including Malloy octocopters and Peregrine, a scaled-down helicopter which conducts surveillance duties – but PROTEUS eclipses them in terms of size, complexity and above all autonomy. Designed and manufactured at the home of British helicopters in Yeovil, the PROTEUS Technology Demonstrator is being developed by Leonardo under a £60m programme supporting 100 highly-skilled British jobs and is believed to be one of the world’s first full-sized autonomous helicopters.
In place of the crew in the cockpit/cabin, sensors and computer systems driven by cutting-edge software which enables PROTEUS to understand and process its environment, make decisions, and act accordingly. With a greater than one-tonne payload, PROTEUS can carry a range of equipment to conduct tasks in challenging weather conditions such as high sea and wind states – and also frees up crewed aircraft to conduct other critical sorties.
During its first flight, PROTEUS was tasked with a short test routine which saw the aircraft operate its own flying controls independently of any human operator, all while under constant supervision and monitoring by test pilots on the ground to ensure flight safety. It has been designed to conduct a range of missions including anti-submarine warfare, patrolling the seas and drawing on information provided by a network of allied ships, helicopters, submarines and detection systems to hunt vessels beneath the waves. Such machines are central to the Atlantic Bastion programme announced by the MoD last month, creating an advanced hybrid naval force to defend the UK and NATO allies against evolving threats. It will enable the UK to find, track and, if required, act against adversaries with unprecedented effectiveness across vast areas of ocean.
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