Able to confuse and suppress enemy radars during air combat missions, BriteStorm provides a new way for UK Armed Forces to deal with increasingly capable air defence systems. BriteStorm will equip a fleet of Tekever AR3 small Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) that are entering service with the RAF under the name StormShroud.
BriteStorm is a ‘stand-in jammer’, a sophisticated electronic warfare device designed to be deployed ahead of high-value crewed combat aircraft, flying on-board small uncrewed aircraft or missiles. It suppresses and deceives an enemy’s Integrated Air Defence System (IADS), degrading their ability to find and track allied aircraft. To deliver this effect, BriteStorm employs high-powered digital jamming and deception techniques, developed by Leonardo’s Electronic Warfare experts to be effective against a wide spectrum of threats. By generating confusion for the enemy, BriteStorm maximises operational freedom for friendly forces.
The BriteStorm payload comprises a Miniature Techniques Generator (MTG) along with a series of Transmit Receive Modules (TRMs) tailored to the operator's platform of choice. BriteStorm is small, lightweight, with a low power requirement making it platform agnostic – specifically designed to integrate into a wide range of uncrewed aircraft.
To future-proof the system against rapidly evolving enemy equipment and techniques, BriteStorm takes an open approach to software. Operators can configure the payload to defeat a wide range of threats and can exploit intelligence and mission data captured during sorties to update the payload to handle new threats as they emerge during operations. Simply put, BriteStorm counters the threats of today and tomorrow.
Learning from recent operational lessons, BriteStorm has been designed to be attritable. On its return, BriteStorm is rapidly reprogrammable for subsequent missions, but if destroyed in the defence of higher-value or crewed platforms, its loss would be tolerable.
Research and development of BriteStorm began in 2017 at Europe's leading hub for electronic warfare technology, located in Luton, UK. The Leonardo site employs over 1,200 people and invested almost £175m with British suppliers in 2024. As part of the UK’s defence industrial combat air enterprise, the site in Luton plays a major role in programmes that protect the security of the UK, including the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and the development of upgrades for the Eurofighter Typhoon.
StormShroud has been developed in the UK by the Royal Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), and the Catalyst team in Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). Entering service with 216 Squadron, StormShroud will be operated by regular and reserve personnel. As the evolving capability embeds, it will be supported by Leonardo and other industry partners.
