Royal Navy Tests Hybrid Crewed-Uncrewed Carrier Operations on HMS Prince of Wales

HMS Prince of Wales is demonstrating the Royal Navy’s shift to a ‘hybrid navy’ by operating crewed F-35Bs, helicopters, and Malloy UAVs simultaneously on its flight deck during Operation Firecrest, as part of a broader strategy outlined in the 2025 SDR and 2026 DIP to fuse crewed and uncrewed platforms across carrier strike groups for scalable NATO deterrence and future airwing development.