BAE Systems and Tualcom sign MoU to develop autonomous air defence technologies
BAE Systems and Turkish technology company Tualcom signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore autonomous air defence capabilities, working through BAE's FalconWorks division targeting customers in the UK, Türkiye and international markets.
Original report
www.aero-mag.com
Industry impact
Defence technology partnerships increasingly bundle communications, navigation and electronic warfare into a single autonomy framework, signalling that future combat air programmes will be judged on system resilience as much as airframe design.
What happened
BAE Systems has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Turkish technology company Tualcom to explore collaboration on autonomous air capabilities for the modern battlespace. The agreement establishes a strategic framework for both organisations to investigate integrating advanced communications, resilient navigation and electronic warfare technologies into future autonomous platforms, targeting customers in the UK, Türkiye and international markets.
The collaboration will be delivered through FalconWorks, BAE Systems' advanced research and technology division within its Air sector. Teams from FalconWorks and Tualcom will initially focus on identifying advanced development opportunities centred on resilient autonomy, enabling rapid evaluation of concepts before progressing into future programmes.
Dave Holmes, managing director of FalconWorks, said the partnership would bring together complementary expertise to accelerate the development of sovereign, exportable technologies. He noted that future autonomous capability would depend not only on advanced aircraft but on the resilience of systems enabling them to sense, communicate and make decisions in contested environments. Ali Pastonoglu, chief executive officer of Tualcom, said the company had invested significantly in developing and manufacturing RF communications, assured navigation and electronic warfare technologies for demanding operational conditions, and that working with BAE Systems would combine both organisations' strengths to underpin the next generation of autonomous defence systems.
Industry impact & what to watch
Framework agreements of this kind let a large prime and a smaller specialist test technical fit before committing to a joint programme, letting both sides validate concepts around resilient autonomy before deciding where formal development work should sit. It also lets BAE Systems draw on Tualcom's RF communications, navigation and electronic warfare expertise while keeping FalconWorks as the integration point for future autonomous platforms.
The stated goal of sovereign, exportable technology reflects how defence collaborations between allied nations are structured today: joint development spreads cost and technical risk while preserving each government's ability to control export of the resulting systems. Untangling which components fall under UK versus Turkish export rules will matter once concepts move from evaluation toward an actual programme.
What happens next depends on whether FalconWorks and Tualcom identify concrete development opportunities that convert into funded programmes, and on how quickly UK and Turkish authorities align on the export and sovereignty terms that would govern any resulting platform.
Who this affects
- Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) — A major prime is broadening its autonomous-systems supply base through a new Turkish technology partnership.
- Aviation Manufacturing Supply Chain — Specialist suppliers of communications, navigation and electronic warfare systems gain a potential route into a major prime's autonomy programmes.
- Aviation Associations — Deepening UK-Türkiye defence-technology cooperation adds a data point to discussions on export and sovereignty policy.
The underlying facts come from the originating publisher (linked above). The narrative, industry-impact assessment and per-role analysis below are produced independently by the AVI-GO intelligence team from public information. Cite as: AVI-GO, "BAE Systems and Tualcom sign MoU to develop autonomous air defence technologies" news brief, 2026-08-25.
How to cite
AVI-GO, “BAE Systems and Tualcom sign MoU to develop autonomous air defence technologies”. https://ai.avi-go.com/news/ai-news-center/news-briefs/bae-systems-and-tualcom-sign-mou-to-develop-autonomous-air-defence-tec-3e00fb4b0e287625e7f8e2f11f080fc3
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