Photo: BAE Systems
At the time of writing, the vast majority of fighter aircraft flying in the skies of the world are four gens or older. There are only four fifth-generation fighters operational, two serving America’s needs (the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning), one those of China (Chengdu J-20), and one fielded by Russia (Sukhoi Su-57).
Europe has none at the time of writing, but that’ll probably change in the mid-term future, after the governments of the UK and Italy announced this week they’ll be partnering with Japan for such a task, under something called Global Combat Air Program (GCAP).
The announcement comes after, back in 2018, the UK got together a number of companies and entities (BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and the British Ministry of Defence) to work in something called Team Tempest.
The goal of this crew was to “research, evaluate and develop a host of next-generation future combat air systems capabilities,” and one year ago it announced its intentions to create an engine demonstrator for the upcoming plane.
Under GCAP, Team Tempest will be joined by a total of 580 organizations from the three countries and beyond, and when fully operational it is expected to involve a workforce of 21,000 people per year. The list of newcomers includes IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Avio Aero.
As far as the plane itself goes, nothing is known at the moment, not even an expected release date of a working prototype (a five-year deadline was announced back in 2021). Team Tempest’s declared goal is to create “an international future combat air system that will pioneer new technology, capable of staying ahead of evolving threats,” but that’s PR talk that doesn’t really reveal anything,
Only a limited number of renderings are presently available online (check attached gallery) to give us an idea of what the plane might look like, and by the looks of it, we’re dealing with a two-engine stealth fighter with room for just one pilot.
The announcement comes after, back in 2018, the UK got together a number of companies and entities (BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and the British Ministry of Defence) to work in something called Team Tempest.
The goal of this crew was to “research, evaluate and develop a host of next-generation future combat air systems capabilities,” and one year ago it announced its intentions to create an engine demonstrator for the upcoming plane.
Under GCAP, Team Tempest will be joined by a total of 580 organizations from the three countries and beyond, and when fully operational it is expected to involve a workforce of 21,000 people per year. The list of newcomers includes IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Avio Aero.
As far as the plane itself goes, nothing is known at the moment, not even an expected release date of a working prototype (a five-year deadline was announced back in 2021). Team Tempest’s declared goal is to create “an international future combat air system that will pioneer new technology, capable of staying ahead of evolving threats,” but that’s PR talk that doesn’t really reveal anything,
Only a limited number of renderings are presently available online (check attached gallery) to give us an idea of what the plane might look like, and by the looks of it, we’re dealing with a two-engine stealth fighter with room for just one pilot.
The UK Government has today announced the launch of a new international combat air programme that will see the UK, Italy and Japan working together with a shared ambition to develop the next generation combat aircraft. Find out more: https://t.co/sgFk2h4W4q pic.twitter.com/vwcvg9em2J
— BAE Systems Air (@BAESystemsAir) December 9, 2022
Google News