AUSA 2025: QinetiQ’s Banshee Jet 80+ training drone improves training realism for missile defense forces
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QinetiQ presented its Banshee Jet 80+ at the 2025 AUSA exposition, a jet-powered target drone for surface and air defense training, simulating cruise missiles and fast-jet threats with modular payload options and autonomous flight control.
QinetiQ presented the Banshee Jet 80+ at AUSA 2025 as the latest evolution of its long-running subscale target drone series. The twin-turbine platform features digital CASPA avionics, plug-in payload modules, and land or ship launch capability for multi-environment training and test operations. It continues the Banshee line used by the U.S. Army and allied forces for live-fire evaluation and system calibration.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Developed to emulate cruise missiles, enemy aircraft, and other aerial threats, the Banshee has become a reference platform for air defense and missile system evaluation among NATO and allied forces. (Picture source: Army Recognition)
The Jet 80+ is a modular subscale high-speed target designed to emulate cruise missiles, fast jets, and other aerial threats for live-fire and test and evaluation work. The platform combines twin gas turbine propulsion, CASPA digital avionics, plug-in payload modules, and both land and sea launch options to support surface and air defence training. The Banshee series traces its lineage to Target Technology developments in the 1980s and entered service in multiple forms from 1984 onward, with design evolution through propeller, rotary, and jet derivatives. Production and service numbers have grown steadily, with the family counted at over 10,000 units in 2025 and earlier milestones recorded as over 6,000 before 2011 and over 8,000 in 2014.
Variants include the Banshee 300, 400, 500, and 600 models, the Whirlwind rotary engine version, the Jet 40 and Jet 40 plus single turbine jets, the twin turbine Jet 80 introduced in 2014, and the Jet 80+ production variant of 2021, while the development work toward a Next Generation line has been reported since around 2019. The Jet 80+ configuration is built around twin gas turbine engines rated at roughly 45 kg static thrust apiece in current production examples, giving approximately 90 kg total static thrust and enabling straight and level speeds up to 200 m/s, or about 720 km/h.
Physical dimensions vary by configuration, with typical length between 2.85 and 2.95 meters, a wingspan of 2.49 meters, a height of around 0.78 meters and a wing area of 2.42 m2. Performance figures include a launch speed near 45 m/s for catapult systems, an endurance in excess of 45 minutes on typical mixed throttle missions when fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank, an operating range greater than 100 km, and an altitude envelope from low sea skimming of about 5 meters to a service ceiling near 9,144 meters. The platform is recovered by parachute for reuse in many scenarios.
Onboard avionics centre on QinetiQ’s CASPA suite which provides three-axis stabilisation, a three-axis inertial measurement unit and a digital autopilot, and the drone supports autonomous waypoint navigation via integrated GPS and digital telemetry for tracking and control. Launch and recovery modes include catapult launch from land or ship and parachute recovery for repeated use, while the target airframe and augmentation modules are configured to be plug-in and mission dependent for rapid reconfiguration. Payload capacity and options are modular and extensive, with the airframe able to carry up to eight smoke tracking flares, up to 16 infrared tracking flares, Hot Nose black-body IR sources that provide forward and side looking IR output in bands I, II and III, IR and chaff dispensing pods, Luneberg lenses, frequency specific active radar augmenters, radar altimeter and sea skimming modules. Additional options include acoustic and Doppler miss distance indicators, active radar homing emulator modules, and IFF transponders capable of Modes A and C.
The Banshee family has been integrated into allied training and range architectures and into specialised U.S. Army target management systems through designation and tailored variants. The U.S. Army allocated MQM-185A to the family and later procured a customised MQM-185B variant developed for the Threat Systems Management Office and for compatibility with the Army Ground Aerial Target Control System (AGATCS), and commercial range services and flight support arrangements have included providers such as Trideum under contracts dating back to 2019. The MQM-185B retains catapult launch and parachute recovery, supports autonomous and operator control, and is used to evaluate the readiness and performance of interceptors and air defence suites under realistic threat emulation profiles. Integration into training allows evaluation of systems spanning short and medium-range MANPADs and SAMs to long-range interceptors and naval gun systems.
The platform has also been used as a carrier for more advanced expendable targets and for experimental teaming concepts in several programmes and trials. From 2022 to 2024, the Banshee Jet 80+ carried the Rattler Supersonic Target MkI as a launched payload, and the Rattler was flight tested at the White Sands Missile Range High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility in March 2024 to emulate supersonic threats at speeds up to Mach 2.6. The Jet 80 was demonstrated from the deck of HMS Prince of Wales in September 2021 under carrier experiments associated with Project Vampire, and in April 2024, a crewed aircraft teamed with an autonomous drone in a UK trial that used a form of Banshee in the mission set. The Royal Navy established a dedicated Banshee flight at 700X Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Culdrose to develop operating, maintenance, and integration procedures for jet-powered uncrewed aircraft at sea.
Operational adaptations and conflict usage have broadened the record of the airframe beyond training roles and have generated specific incident items and timelines. The Banshee family has been operated in over 40 countries and used to exercise and test a long list of weapon systems including air-to-air missiles such as Meteor, AMRAAM, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, IRIS-T, MICA, Aspide and R550 Magic, ground and naval SAMs ranging from MANPADs such as Stinger and Mistral up to medium and long range systems including Sea Sparrow, ESSM, SPYDER, NASAMS, SM1, SM2 Hawk and Patriot, and guns and cannon suites such as Phalanx, Sea Zenith, Seaguard and large naval guns up to 155 mm.
Reports from 2023 and 2024 indicate that variants and lookalikes have been adapted for one-way attack use, that modified Banshee-type systems were supplied to Ukraine in May 2023, that wreckage consistent with a jet Banshee carrying an estimated 7 kg warhead was recovered near Donetsk in February 2024, that a Banshee Jet 80 reportedly struck a Russian military target in the Kursk region in June 2025, and that Ukrainian delegations have demonstrated interceptor drones against Banshee targets in Denmark and elsewhere. These operational conversions and sightings have been associated with discussions about range, survivability, low radar visibility and manoeuvre capability up to high g loads and about the utility of converting reusable target designs into expendable strike assets.
The Banshee product family’s variant list, operator roster, and development pathways underline its multi-role employment and continuing incremental evolution. Documented variants span reconnaissance and target roles with entries including Banshee 300, 400, 500, 600, Whirlwind, Jet 40, Jet 40 plus, Jet 80, Jet 80 plus and development concepts such as a Next Generation line and the Rattler supersonic target which can be carried or launched by the Jet 80+. International operators include Brunei, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Norway, Oman, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Ukraine, among others, and production and service relationships involve both QinetiQ and commercial range service providers.
Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
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QinetiQ presented its Banshee Jet 80+ at the 2025 AUSA exposition, a jet-powered target drone for surface and air defense training, simulating cruise missiles and fast-jet threats with modular payload options and autonomous flight control.
QinetiQ presented the Banshee Jet 80+ at AUSA 2025 as the latest evolution of its long-running subscale target drone series. The twin-turbine platform features digital CASPA avionics, plug-in payload modules, and land or ship launch capability for multi-environment training and test operations. It continues the Banshee line used by the U.S. Army and allied forces for live-fire evaluation and system calibration.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Developed to emulate cruise missiles, enemy aircraft, and other aerial threats, the Banshee has become a reference platform for air defense and missile system evaluation among NATO and allied forces. (Picture source: Army Recognition)
The Jet 80+ is a modular subscale high-speed target designed to emulate cruise missiles, fast jets, and other aerial threats for live-fire and test and evaluation work. The platform combines twin gas turbine propulsion, CASPA digital avionics, plug-in payload modules, and both land and sea launch options to support surface and air defence training. The Banshee series traces its lineage to Target Technology developments in the 1980s and entered service in multiple forms from 1984 onward, with design evolution through propeller, rotary, and jet derivatives. Production and service numbers have grown steadily, with the family counted at over 10,000 units in 2025 and earlier milestones recorded as over 6,000 before 2011 and over 8,000 in 2014.
Variants include the Banshee 300, 400, 500, and 600 models, the Whirlwind rotary engine version, the Jet 40 and Jet 40 plus single turbine jets, the twin turbine Jet 80 introduced in 2014, and the Jet 80+ production variant of 2021, while the development work toward a Next Generation line has been reported since around 2019. The Jet 80+ configuration is built around twin gas turbine engines rated at roughly 45 kg static thrust apiece in current production examples, giving approximately 90 kg total static thrust and enabling straight and level speeds up to 200 m/s, or about 720 km/h.
Physical dimensions vary by configuration, with typical length between 2.85 and 2.95 meters, a wingspan of 2.49 meters, a height of around 0.78 meters and a wing area of 2.42 m2. Performance figures include a launch speed near 45 m/s for catapult systems, an endurance in excess of 45 minutes on typical mixed throttle missions when fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank, an operating range greater than 100 km, and an altitude envelope from low sea skimming of about 5 meters to a service ceiling near 9,144 meters. The platform is recovered by parachute for reuse in many scenarios.
Onboard avionics centre on QinetiQ’s CASPA suite which provides three-axis stabilisation, a three-axis inertial measurement unit and a digital autopilot, and the drone supports autonomous waypoint navigation via integrated GPS and digital telemetry for tracking and control. Launch and recovery modes include catapult launch from land or ship and parachute recovery for repeated use, while the target airframe and augmentation modules are configured to be plug-in and mission dependent for rapid reconfiguration. Payload capacity and options are modular and extensive, with the airframe able to carry up to eight smoke tracking flares, up to 16 infrared tracking flares, Hot Nose black-body IR sources that provide forward and side looking IR output in bands I, II and III, IR and chaff dispensing pods, Luneberg lenses, frequency specific active radar augmenters, radar altimeter and sea skimming modules. Additional options include acoustic and Doppler miss distance indicators, active radar homing emulator modules, and IFF transponders capable of Modes A and C.
The Banshee family has been integrated into allied training and range architectures and into specialised U.S. Army target management systems through designation and tailored variants. The U.S. Army allocated MQM-185A to the family and later procured a customised MQM-185B variant developed for the Threat Systems Management Office and for compatibility with the Army Ground Aerial Target Control System (AGATCS), and commercial range services and flight support arrangements have included providers such as Trideum under contracts dating back to 2019. The MQM-185B retains catapult launch and parachute recovery, supports autonomous and operator control, and is used to evaluate the readiness and performance of interceptors and air defence suites under realistic threat emulation profiles. Integration into training allows evaluation of systems spanning short and medium-range MANPADs and SAMs to long-range interceptors and naval gun systems.
The platform has also been used as a carrier for more advanced expendable targets and for experimental teaming concepts in several programmes and trials. From 2022 to 2024, the Banshee Jet 80+ carried the Rattler Supersonic Target MkI as a launched payload, and the Rattler was flight tested at the White Sands Missile Range High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility in March 2024 to emulate supersonic threats at speeds up to Mach 2.6. The Jet 80 was demonstrated from the deck of HMS Prince of Wales in September 2021 under carrier experiments associated with Project Vampire, and in April 2024, a crewed aircraft teamed with an autonomous drone in a UK trial that used a form of Banshee in the mission set. The Royal Navy established a dedicated Banshee flight at 700X Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Culdrose to develop operating, maintenance, and integration procedures for jet-powered uncrewed aircraft at sea.
Operational adaptations and conflict usage have broadened the record of the airframe beyond training roles and have generated specific incident items and timelines. The Banshee family has been operated in over 40 countries and used to exercise and test a long list of weapon systems including air-to-air missiles such as Meteor, AMRAAM, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, IRIS-T, MICA, Aspide and R550 Magic, ground and naval SAMs ranging from MANPADs such as Stinger and Mistral up to medium and long range systems including Sea Sparrow, ESSM, SPYDER, NASAMS, SM1, SM2 Hawk and Patriot, and guns and cannon suites such as Phalanx, Sea Zenith, Seaguard and large naval guns up to 155 mm.
Reports from 2023 and 2024 indicate that variants and lookalikes have been adapted for one-way attack use, that modified Banshee-type systems were supplied to Ukraine in May 2023, that wreckage consistent with a jet Banshee carrying an estimated 7 kg warhead was recovered near Donetsk in February 2024, that a Banshee Jet 80 reportedly struck a Russian military target in the Kursk region in June 2025, and that Ukrainian delegations have demonstrated interceptor drones against Banshee targets in Denmark and elsewhere. These operational conversions and sightings have been associated with discussions about range, survivability, low radar visibility and manoeuvre capability up to high g loads and about the utility of converting reusable target designs into expendable strike assets.
The Banshee product family’s variant list, operator roster, and development pathways underline its multi-role employment and continuing incremental evolution. Documented variants span reconnaissance and target roles with entries including Banshee 300, 400, 500, 600, Whirlwind, Jet 40, Jet 40 plus, Jet 80, Jet 80 plus and development concepts such as a Next Generation line and the Rattler supersonic target which can be carried or launched by the Jet 80+. International operators include Brunei, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Norway, Oman, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Ukraine, among others, and production and service relationships involve both QinetiQ and commercial range service providers.
Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
