The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) has announced the winners of its 2026 Honours, Medals and Awards, recognising outstanding contributions to aviation, aerospace and space across the international industry.
The awards ceremony, held at No. 4 Hamilton Place in London, brought together leading figures from across the aerospace sector to celebrate achievements spanning engineering, aviation safety, space exploration, technological innovation and the preservation of aerospace heritage.
Among the most notable awards were several recognising significant advances in UK aerospace technology, including two Bronze Team Medals for Leonardo-led projects and an award for a collaborative air traffic management initiative involving NATS, the University of Exeter and The Alan Turing Institute.
The Silver Team Medal was presented to the Artemis II Crew in recognition of their achievement as the first astronauts in more than 50 years to travel to the Moon. The mission represented a major milestone in human spaceflight, testing critical deep-space exploration systems, including spacecraft operations, life support, navigation, communications, re-entry and recovery.
The award also recognises the mission’s contribution to advancing lunar exploration, deep-space human health research and international cooperation between the United States, Europe and Canada.
UK aerospace innovation featured prominently among the Bronze Team Medal recipients. Project Bluebird, bringing together NATS, the University of Exeter and The Alan Turing Institute, was recognised for delivering two world-first advances in air traffic control. These include a high-fidelity probabilistic digital twin and a competency-based framework for assessing artificial intelligence controllers against human performance standards.
Leonardo received two further Bronze Team Medals for its work on autonomous aircraft and uncrewed systems.
The Leonardo Proteus Uncrewed Air System was recognised for achieving the UK-first design, manufacture and flight of a fully autonomous aircraft weighing 2,500kg, completed in less than three years.
Meanwhile, the Sovereign Hunter project was recognised for demonstrating distributed autonomous control of multiple uncrewed air systems. Developed through collaboration between Leonardo and UK SMEs Volander, Applied AGI and Faculty, the project delivered what the Society described as a UK-first decentralised swarm capability, integrating advanced autonomy, target recognition and safety-assured systems.
Several individuals were also recognised for their outstanding contributions to the aerospace profession.
Three Honorary Fellowships were awarded to David Guerin, Professor Marilyn Smith and Toni Tolker-Nielsen. Their contributions span remotely piloted aircraft safety, aerodynamics and aeroelastics research, and European space programme leadership.
Honorary Companions were awarded to Joan Garrett, founder of MedAire and MedLink, in recognition of her work revolutionising in-flight medical care, and Max Alexander for his exceptional contribution to science and space communication through photography.
The RAeS President Awards recognised Robert Graham for his contribution to the Society’s professional standards work, James Angus for his sustained contribution to aerospace engineering and leadership, and Dr Kit Mitchell for his work preserving and promoting aerospace heritage.
Other recipients included Dick Ormshaw, recognised for his leadership in replacing the Empire Test Pilots’ School rotary-wing training fleet, and Ishu Verma, who led the engineering integration, full-scale validation and FAA certification of PhostrEx, the world’s first environmentally sustainable Halon replacement.
The Society also recognised the next generation of aerospace professionals. Caitlin Harmer received the Young Persons Achievement Award for creating CATE, an initiative transforming training for more than 100 first-year apprentices. Joshua Hughes received the Young Persons Herbert Le Sueur Award for his contribution to the first flight of Leonardo’s Proteus autonomous uncrewed aircraft, while Agathe Bouis received a Young Persons Commendation for her work developing alternatives to GPS through distributed space systems and precision timing technologies.
David Edwards FRAeS, Chief Executive of the Royal Aeronautical Society, said: “The Royal Aeronautical Society is delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the 2026 Honours, Medals and Awards recipients. Through their expertise, ingenuity and unwavering dedication, they have helped shape the future of aerospace and driven meaningful progress across the sector.”
Professor Malcolm Macdonald FRAeS, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, added that the achievements recognised this year demonstrated how professional judgement, engineering expertise and accumulated knowledge continue to advance the aerospace industry.
The Society has been recognising outstanding achievements in the global aerospace industry since 1909, when aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright travelled to London to receive its first Gold Medal. Its annual awards programme continues to recognise individuals and teams whose work advances the art, science and engineering of aerospace.
Full List of Royal Aeronautical Society 2026 Award Winners
Honorary Fellowships
- David Guerin MRAeS
- Professor Marilyn Smith FRAeS
- Toni Tolker-Nielsen
Honorary Companions
- Joan Garrett
- Max Alexander
President Awards
- Robert Graham MRAeS
- James Angus FRAeS
- Dr Kit Mitchell FRAeS
Team Medals
Silver Medal
- Artemis II Crew
Bronze Medal
- Project Bluebird
- Leonardo Proteus Uncrewed Air System
- Sovereign Hunter
Society Specialist Group Awards
RP Alston Flight Specialist Group Award
- Dick Ormshaw MRAeS
Propulsion Specialist Group Award
- Ishu Verma
Air Transport Specialist Group Award
- Cristiano Ceccato de Sabata
Geoffrey Pardoe Award
- Stuart Martin FRAeS
Young Persons Achievement Award
- Caitlin Harmer
Young Persons Herbert Le Sueur Award
- Joshua Hughes
Young Persons Commendation
- Agathe Bouis
Airworthiness Specialist Group Award
- Gyroplane Airworthiness
Aeronautical Heritage Specialist Group Award
- Tony Merton Jones
The Society’s full awards programme, including descriptions of the honours and previous recipients, is available at aerosociety.com.