RAF pilots could be flying joint missions with squadrons of unmanned combat aircraft by the end of the next decade, under plans unveiled by the Ministry of Defence yesterday.

In a development heralded as important as creating the Harrier jump jet, the government has signed up leading defence manufacturers in a four-year, £124m deal to design the jets, which will be about the same size as the Hawk training aircraft. The aim of the programme - known as Taranis, the name of the ancient Celtic god of thunder - is to build a jet "capable of delivering weapons to a battlefield in an-other continent with no need for pilot or operator input", according to Lord Drayson, minister in charge of the £16bn-a-year military equipment budget.