Defence Online

BAE Systems Unveils BlackThorn

Land July 28, 2026

BlackThorn’s multi-role modular architecture and low-cost, high-volume manufacturing design signals a fundamental shift in how the UK defence sector is approaching munitions for autonomous systems, counter-drone capability and one-way effectors.

BAE Systems has unveiled BlackThorn, a new generation multi-role modular warhead developed specifically for the autonomous and attritable platforms that are reshaping the character of modern conflict. Designed for integration across drones, one-way effectors, counter-drone systems, missiles and uncrewed ground vehicles, BlackThorn addresses one of the most pressing capability gaps in the current defence landscape: the need for an assured, affordable and rapidly manufacturable munition that can keep pace with the proliferation of low-cost threats without replicating the cost and complexity of legacy weapon systems.

The warhead’s modular architecture is central to its design logic. Available in 40mm, 70mm and 120mm variants, BlackThorn can be configured across blast, fragmentation, multi-purpose effects and anti-armour roles, providing a flexible mission payload without requiring multiple weapon system types. That adaptability – combined with a design philosophy explicitly oriented around rapid manufacture at scale and low cost – reflects a clear read of the lessons emerging from contemporary conflicts, where battlefield economics and magazine depth have become as strategically significant as the technical performance of individual munitions.

Development has been accelerated through extensive use of modelling, simulation and digital engineering, followed by validation through a broad testing programme – an approach that compresses traditional timelines while maintaining the technical rigour that munitions qualification demands. The speed of development is itself a capability statement: demonstrating that advanced warhead technology can be brought to readiness at a pace that matches the tempo of emerging threats rather than the procurement cycles of previous decades.

The significance of BlackThorn’s first integration is not incidental. Its selection as the warhead for Frankenburg Technologies’ Mark I short range air defence missile – following a collaboration agreement between BAE Systems and Frankenburg earlier this year – links two of the more innovative and aggressively positioned companies in the UK’s emerging counter-drone industrial base. Frankenburg was founded explicitly to deliver affordable mass at the speed modern warfare demands, and the combination of BAE Systems’ warhead expertise with Frankenburg’s low-cost missile manufacturing creates a scalable interceptor capability that both companies describe as proof that effective air defence can be delivered quickly, at scale and at a price point that enables mass deployment.

Scott Jamieson, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Maritime and Land Defence Solutions, framed BlackThorn as a new way of thinking about payloads – combining decades of expertise in warhead design, energetic materials and fuzing with proven high-volume munitions experience to meet the evolving needs of attritable platforms, autonomous systems and counter-drone capability. The emphasis on affordability and pace is deliberate, positioning BlackThorn not as a premium precision munition but as a scalable, deployable answer to the mass drone threat that conventional air defence economics struggle to address sustainably.

For the UK defence supply chain

BlackThorn’s unveiling is a significant signal for the UK munitions and counter-UAS supply chain. The explicit design goals of low-cost manufacture, modular integration and rapid scalability point to a programme that will require a broad and capable supply chain across energetic materials, precision manufacturing, fuzing systems, electronics and digital engineering – and one where the emphasis on volume production rather than bespoke manufacture creates a different and potentially more accessible commercial model for suppliers. The collaboration between BAE Systems and Frankenburg also illustrates the growing role of innovative mid-tier and SME companies in shaping next-generation capability, with Frankenburg’s missile programme now anchored by a warhead from one of the UK’s largest primes.

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Post written by: Vicky Maggiani

Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.