Fighter jet drones move closer as BAE and Dassault link up

Drones that could eventually replace the current generation of jet fighters have moved a step closer after BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation won a £120m contract.

Britain’s BAE and France’s Dassault have signed a two-year joint contract with the UK and French governments to look at what would be needed to build such an aircraft.

The deal confirms the Anglo-French agreement announced at the Farnborough Air Show in July, and is the next step towards unmanned jets that could replace the current fourth-generation fighters - the Typhoon in Britain and the Rafale in France.

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