Project MORRIGHAN

Project MORRIGHAN is a UK Ministry of Defence research and development initiative aimed at creating a universal, platform-agnostic carriage system for logistics and casualty evacuation using heavy-lift autonomous systems (both air and ground-based). The program develops prototypes allowing military personnel to pre-load payloads onto transport modules that can be rapidly attached to or detached from different autonomous vehicles for operations across land, littoral, and sea domains. Phase 1 awarded contracts to four companies (Skylift UAV Ltd, Aether Aerospace Ltd, ISS Group Ltd, and Black Space Technology Ltd) to develop working prototypes, while Phase 2 involves demonstrations of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAS executing pick-up, transit, and drop-off operations with logistics and casualty evacuation carriage systems. The program is strategically significant as autonomous logistics and medical evacuation are key UK Armed Forces priorities for adapting to modern, high-intensity conflict scenarios and enhancing battlefield sustainability.