Tempest, as the UK warms up the engines of the sixth generation fighter

19 July 20222 years ago babelfish

The UK accelerates its air combat program with a demonstrator ready to fly within five years. Meanwhile, Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric announce the development of the Jaguar radar demonstrator

The UK accelerates on the Tempest program: a sixth generation fighter demonstrator will take off within five years.

This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense together with the manufacturer Bae Systems, leader of Team Tempest (together with Leonardo UK, Rolls-Royce and Mbda UK), on the occasion of the opening of the Farnborough International Airshow.

Not only. The UK announced it was partnering with Japan and current partner Italy on its next generation Tempest hunting program. Deeper partnerships between the two countries are therefore expected by the end of the year. The news partially confirms Reuters leaks last week when it revealed that Britain and Japan were close to an agreement to combine their Tempest and FX programs .

"I am a firm believer in the potential of our thriving partnership, not just with Italy, but with Japan," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the opening address of the show.

Furthermore, also during the first day of the Farnborough show, Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric announced that they have reached an agreement on the concept for the Jaguar radar technology demonstrator, presented for the first time last February. As the note from the group led by Alessandro Profumo underlines, "Jaguar represents the first major element of an international radar program that meets the ambitious requirements expressed by Japan and the United Kingdom in the FX / FCAS programs".

London thus pushes the program of the future air combat system with the objective that the new fighter will enter into activity by 2035. While the Tempest takes off, the rival program FCas Franco-German-Spanish lags.

All the details.

A TEMPEST DEMONSTRATOR WITHIN 5 YEARS

The first demonstration aircraft will fly "within the next five years" to test features such as stealth capability.

This was announced by the UK Ministry of Defense specifying that Tempest will be the first British demonstration fighter aircraft after the Typhoon, almost 40 years ago.

It will be a piloted supersonic aircraft that will test a number of new technologies, including the integration of stealth-compatible features, Bae Sistems added at the show.

PARTNERSHIP WITH JAPAN

Additionally, the UK government has announced that it will work with Japan (working on its FX fighter program) on plans for its next-generation Tempest fighter jet.

Japan will join the UK and Italy for a "joint conceptual analysis" that will seek to "understand areas of common interest and explore potential future air combat partnership options". Further decisions are expected to be made by the end of 2022. Like the UK, both Japan and Italy use F-35 fighters, and the nations have jointly undertaken joint exercises in the past.

So Britain has confirmed plans for a more formal collaboration with Japan on joint conceptual analysis of future air combat capabilities, although there are no hints that there would be a merger involving Japan's Tempest and FX programs, Bloomberg points out.

Sweden and fighter manufacturer Gripen Saab AB also remain involved in the Tempest program.

SAVE ON COSTS

For the Tempest program, London has already allocated a budget of 2 billion pounds (2.4 billion dollars) until 2025.

Although the UK government has increased defense spending from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the acquisition of a new full partner in the Tempest program could help with the new fighter jet by sharing the enormous development costs of the airplane. Some analysts estimate it could cost up to 25 billion pounds, the Guardian reports.

THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN LEONARDO UK AND MITSUBISHI

Finally, on the first day of the UK show, Leonardo UK and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric announced the concept for a radar technology demonstrator called Jaguar, first unveiled in February, following the completion of joint conceptual work and feasibility studies at the beginning of this year.

Jaguar represents the latest in aerial combat sensing technology. The system will provide advanced radar functions, as well as new capabilities capable of countering enemy surveillance systems. It also meets the ambitious requirements expressed by Japan and the United Kingdom under the FX / FCAS programs. The technology and knowledge generated by the work on JAGUAR will fuel the development of the ISANKE & ICS (Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects & Integrated Communications System) systems of the next generation Tempest fighter.

Furthermore, the Italian and British electronic companies of Leonardo and Elettronica SpA have reached a collaboration agreement in the area of sensors and communications to support the technological development of the FCAS project. This initiative will deepen the consolidated collaboration of these companies internationally.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/tempest-come-il-regno-unito-scalda-i-motori-del-caccia-di-sesta-generazione/ on Tue, 19 Jul 2022 06:21:25 +0000.