FIA 2026: Malloy eyes NATO expansion and Australia for T-150 as it scales up technology

Speaking to Defence Insight at the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) 2026, Malloy Aeronautics CEO Neil Appleton confirmed that the T-150 was awaiting inclusion on the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) register.

The cargo-carrying uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) is already in operation with some NATO users including the UK Royal Navy (RN), Royal Marines and US Marine Corps, and Appleton added that “one or two” other NATO customers are in “early adoption of the capability”.

Outside of NATO, Malloy is also looking to establish a foothold in Australia. “We are trying to get into the Australian market” to complete the “AUKUS hat-trick”, Appleton said. For this aim, Malloy benefits from being part of the wider BAE ecosystem, according to the CEO, as it can work with BAE Systems Australia to introduce the capability to “the Australian customer”. This connection could also allow it to potentially “increase the Australian content” of the aircraft if the country wanted “sovereign autonomy” or other domestically produced subsystems to be equipped to the aircraft. 

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Modularity on top of a core airframe

Appleton views this ability to fit a multitude of subsystems and components to the T-150’s “core airframe” as one of the system’s key differentiators. The company is currently working towards three or four main configurations, with the NSPA register in mind.

Further customisation is still an option, though, as Appleton explained to Defence Insight that customers often experiment with the drone and ask, “How can I use it for my particular need?” Malloy can then work with them to “integrate pretty much whatever they would like within all the usual legal boundaries”.

For example, during Operation Firecrest, the RN conducted heavy-lift UAV trials using a cargo net, before expanding the capability for search-and-rescue (SAR) missions, which it is now trialling. 

The RN has been a long-standing customer of the system and has made use of its modular, multi-mission capabilities. For example, in addition to trialling SAR mission fits, the service announced in September 2025 that the T-150 had conducted the first warship-to-warship delivery of supplies during the UK Carrier Strike Group deployment. 

Additionally, Appleton said the RN had recently started to use the T-150 to “follow the wake of a ship in the event someone goes overboard and then [kick] out a life raft or flotation aid to help with survival”.

The service is known to have acquired nine T-150s for its Carrier Strike Group through a procurement programme likely signed in 2023 or 2024; although it has “more than that” through other purchases, according to Appleton. Ukraine, which received the UAV in 2022, is using it for logistics resupply missions, carrying supplies such as blood, medical equipment, ammunition and food to ground-based soldiers. 

In August 2023, a T-150 carrying a 10kg explosive payload was photographed after being allegedly deactivated by Russian EW systems. While the event has not been verified, this highlighted another capability that could be carried by the system’s 68kg payload capacity: offensive weapons. 

During a test in the US in July 2025, the UAV was fitted with BAE’s Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided munition kit, which converts standard 70mm rockets into guided weapons. This payload was fitted to the drone at FIA 2026, with Appleton confirming that the mission fit would continue to be trialled to prove the capability.

Scaling up the technology

Nearly five years ago, BAE Systems and Malloy unveiled the T-650 drone at DSEI, with Defence Insight reporting that it would have a 300kg payload capacity. 

When asked about the system at Farnborough this week, Appleton confirmed that the T-650 was seen as a “concept and target”, with the company aiming to mature the technology required for the system gradually, working up from the T-150. 

As part of this technological development, Malloy confirmed that the T-400 – a drone intended to have a payload capacity of 180kg, which the RN reportedly tested in 2020 – had undergone a “complete bottom-up rebuild” over the past 12-18 months. Further details on this are “coming out soon”, noted the company.

The T-400 has received redesigned motors and speed controllers and will feature next-generation batteries that use the same technology as those found in smartphones.

It is this process of developing the components needed to achieve the T-400’s target payload capacity that underscores why the T-650 is viewed as an aspirational target for Malloy, giving the company “something to aspire to and drive towards” as it continually develops the various technologies required to produce a drone of that scale.

Shephard’s Farnborough International Airshow coverage is sponsored by MBDA

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

T-150 (Royal Navy) [UK]

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

T-650

T-400

T-150