The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) by early next year intends to fund up to four companies to develop an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that can operate collaboratively with the British Army’s Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.

Disclosed on the UK’s procurement portal on 4 November, Project Nyx is seeking to fund, through the MoD’s Defence Innovation body, the capability concept demonstration of a new breed of “commanded not controlled” autonomous collaborative platforms (ACPs).

“The ACP will enhance the lethality and survivability of the crewed platform and do so with a smaller logistic footprint and lower maintenance burden relative to the crewed platform,” says the tender notice.

Proposed missions for the ACP include “reconnaissance, target acquisition, strike, countermeasure defeat, and integration with launched effects”, it adds.

Up to four companies will be chosen for the capability concept demonstrator phase, where they will “work collaboratively with the MoD to rapidly develop and prototype” an ACP design and prove out the concept.

Work will include the integration of autonomy software and UAV hardware with “with existing MoD capabilities”, including the AH-64E for test and evaluation activities.

However, the document stresses that the initial phase is confined to research and development work “and the purchase at scale of hardware and software is not within scope of this activity”.

Under the MoD’s current timeline, an invitation to tender will be issued before the end of 2025, followed by the award of contracts to up to four suppliers for initial development activity early next year.

A further contract downselect will take place later in 2026, ahead of a capability demonstration event in the first half of 2027. A final demonstration will mark the end of the project in early 2028.

The MoD has allocated £100 million ($131 million) for the effort.