[Cabeça de Martelo]

[Cabeça de Martelo]

[Cabeça de Martelo]

UK next-generation combat air demonstrator set to fly

The UK Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace MP has confirmed plans for Britain to lead the development of a new flying combat air demonstrator, which will play a critical role in proving the technology and design principles needed to deliver the UK’s Future Combat Air System.


The flagship project is part of a suite of novel technologies being developed by Team Tempest. These concepts are designed to demonstrate and test the next generation combat air skills, tools, processes and techniques needed to ensure Tempest, the UK’s Future Combat Air System, achieves in service in 2035 (Picture source: BAE Systems)

Work is being led by UK sovereign combat air industry leader BAE Systems, working with the Ministry of Defence and a number of suppliers across the UK. This pioneering project will deliver the first flying combat air demonstrator in a generation - designed and developed in the UK. The demonstrator aircraft will fly within the next five years.

The flagship project is part of a suite of novel technologies being developed by Team Tempest. These concepts are designed to demonstrate and test the next generation combat air skills, tools, processes and techniques needed to ensure Tempest, the UK’s Future Combat Air System, achieves in service in 2035.

Team Tempest comprises the expertise of the Ministry of Defence and UK combat air leaders BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, Rolls-Royce and MBDA UK. Launched in 2018, alongside the UK’s Combat Air Strategy, Tempest will play a crucial role in providing long-term defence and security for the UK, while delivering significant economic benefits to the nation, securing high-value skills and careers and contributing to prosperity in many UK regions.

Engineers at BAE Systems across the North of England are leading the design, test, evaluation and build process, bringing together new and novel digital engineering technologies such as synthetic modelling and model-based systems engineering. These innovative design and engineering methods are helping to demonstrate how they will significantly reduce the time it takes to design, deliver and upgrade complex combat aircraft.

"I am delighted that the UK, alongside Italy and Japan are working on similar combat air journeys together. Our work with Japan and Italy on cutting-edge technology like this shows the benefit of our alliances across the world. The design and development of the demonstrator aircraft represents an important milestone, showcasing the success and talent of our engineers, programmers and software developers. This programme will go on to attract opportunities for many more great minds and talent from across the UK" said Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace

"We recognise our responsibility in providing trusted sovereign combat air capability. We’re partnering with the UK’s highly motivated and skilled supply chain to accelerate the innovation of the nation’s future air power; integrating new technologies so the Royal Air Force and its allies can stay ahead of our adversaries. The demonstrator is an exciting once-in-a-generation opportunity providing experienced and young engineers alike a chance to contribute to an endeavour which really matters to our national defence and security" said Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems Chief Executive

The demonstrator will provide evidence for the critical technologies, methods and tools, which will be used on the core platform. As part of the broader activity involved in developing Tempest, the demonstrator programme is also helping retain, further develop and stimulate the next generation of skills and expertise required to deliver this ambitious programme.

Tempest was launched in 2018, in response to the UK’s Combat Air Strategy, which set out an ambitious vision for the future. It outlined the importance of the UK’s sovereign combat air sector in ensuring that the UK retains choice in how it meets its defence and security capability needs and initiated the programme to deliver the successor capability to Typhoon.

The strategy also recognised the broad benefits the sector delivers to the nation and committed to ensure that future procurement decisions take into account military capability, international influence and economic benefit, along with the overall cost to deliver maximum benefit for the UK.

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Italy-Japan relations are now elevated at "Strategic Partnership" with bilateral consultation on foreign affairs, defence and economic topics, as:
- GCAP (Global Combat Air Program) ✅
- European and Indo-Pacific security ✅
- Space programs ✅
- Hydrogen ✅
- Railways ✅

[PTWolf]

https://www.defense-aerospace.com/bae-wins-656m-contract-for-tempest-future-aircraft-program/

Major Funding Boost to Progress Future Fighter Jet Programme

A £656 million funding allocation will propel the sixth-generation fighter jet programme into the next phase, focusing on technology.

LONDON --- As part of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) – a trilateral collaboration with Japan and Italy to develop the next generation of fighter jet - the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded the major contract to BAE Systems on behalf of British defence firms Leonardo UK, MBDA UK and Rolls-Royce, to progress the design and development of this aircraft. Tempest is the UK name for the aircraft in development under GCAP.

The contract will build on the ground-breaking science, research and engineering already completed. The UK MOD and our industry partners are working in close collaboration with GCAP partners Japan and Italy. Together, the partners will now progress the maturity of more than 60 cutting-edge technology demonstrations, digital concepts and new technologies.

These are critical to the UK’s sovereign defence capability and will help shape the final requirements with Japan and Italy for the combat air platform, due to enter service by 2035.

The aircraft is designed to be an innovative stealth fighter with supersonic capability and equipped with cutting edge technologies, including state-of-the-art sensing and protection capabilities. This will make the aircraft one of the world’s most advanced, interoperable, adaptable and connected fighter jets in service globally.

Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace said: “The next tranche of funding for future combat air will help fuse the combined technologies and expertise we have with our international partners – both in Europe and the Pacific - to deliver this world-leading fighter jet by 2035, protecting our skies for decades to come.”

This investment forms part of more than £2 billion worth of UK Government spending on the project up to May 2025, announced in the 2021 Defence Command Paper.

Delivering on the Prime Minister’s priority to grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the UK, GCAP will span several decades, creating thousands of jobs and economic value to the UK. There are already more than 2,800 people working at the UK partners and wider industry, with almost 600 organisations on contract across the UK, including SMEs and academic institutions.

A 2021 report by PWC suggested the UK taking a core role in a combat air system could support an average of 21,000 jobs a year and contribute an estimated £26.2 billion to the economy by 2050.

Across UK industry, work on this programme is driving investment in new digital technologies, tools and techniques, including model-based systems engineering with open architectures, digital twins and virtual environments. This will ensure the next generation combat aircraft will be delivered more rapidly and more cost-effectively than previous combat air programmes.

Herman Claesen, Managing Director, Future Combat Air Systems - BAE Systems Air, said: “This contract reflects the continued commitment by the UK Government and ensures we continue to mature this significant programme and the vital technology pipeline that will drive innovation into - and beyond - the combat air sector for decades to come.

“This important work is at the core of the newly created Global Combat Air Programme; a major international partnership and ambitious endeavour between the UK, Japan and Italy with the shared goal to deliver the next generation of combat air fighter jets by 2035.”

The announcement follows the UK, Japan and Italy joining forces at DSEI Japan to showcase GCAP publicly for the first time since it was announced by the Prime Ministers of the UK, Japan and Italy late last year. In March, the Defence Secretary visited Tokyo to view some of the leading technology that is driving this unique programme.

By combining forces, the UK and our partners will deliver the military capability we need to overcome fast evolving threats, share costs and ensure the RAF remains interoperable with some of our closest partners.

[Lusitano89]

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