Within the next two weeks the Ministry of Defence will award BAE Systems a £200 million contract to create the UK’s first unmanned fighter jet, The Times has learnt.

The project will contract BAE to develop a “technical demonstrator” version of the aircraft. This will be a full working model with weapons and targeting systems, which will then form the base design for a future generation of fighters.

The £175 million to £200 million contract is thought to be the largest experimental project financed by the MoD since it funded the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. BAE is leading the project with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Industries and QinetiQ as partners.

Western armed forces are increasingly using technology to remove humans from harm’s way, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are likely to be a key element of this.

They are already operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting soldiers and pilots with surveillance and reconnaissance images.

The MoD has made UAV technology a strategic priority.The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), published last year, says that UAV technology must be developed in the UK. It is too important for the UK to rely on buying the technology from elsewhere.

The DIS also reveals that the MoD is planning to replace fighter pilots with computer-flown planes in about 30 years, once the current Eurofighter Typhoon and the proposed Joint Strike Fighter reach the end of their lives.

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