Both Italy and Sweden signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2020 committing to explore collaboration on the FCAS programme.[3] The UK and Japan announced they are working together on the joint development of engine and radar demonstrators. This was followed by an announcement in December 2022 of the Global Combat Air Programme; a collaboration between Italy, Japan and the UK for a sixth-generation fighter aircraft.[4]
"Build on or establish new [international] partnerships to deliver future requirements."
Focus on affordability.
The document describes combat air as "An aircraft, manned or unmanned, whose prime function is to conduct air-to-air and/or air-to-surface combat operations in a hostile and/or contested environment, whilst having the ability to concurrently conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and command and control tasks."[7] On the same day, the Tempest programme was introduced at the Farnborough Airshow as part of the Combat Air Strategy to maintain UK's combat aircraft development capabilities.[8]
In 2018 it was reported that the MoD was in talks with officials from Sweden about a common fighter jet aircraft.[17][18][9] On 8 February 2019, it was reported that the MoD and BAE Systems planned to approach the Indian MoD and Air Force regarding collaboration for the design and manufacture of the Tempest.[19]
In July 2019, Team Tempest revealed that they planned to use a Boeing 757 as a testbed for technology developed for Tempest.[20] The aircraft, named Excalibur, will be the only stealth fighter testbed outside the United States.[21]
On 29 July 2021, the project moved into the Concept and Assessment phase, with BAE Systems being awarded a £250 million contract to advance the design.[22]
On 18 July 2022, the UK announced that a demonstrator aircraft would be flown for the first time "within the next five years". According to the MOD press release, the demonstrator's development is already underway at the BAE Systems facility near Preston, England and it has already been flown in simulators.[23]
International involvement
On 19 July 2019, Sweden and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore ways of jointly developing sixth-generation air combat technologies.[24][25] Swedish public service TV SVT reported that Sweden is now a part of the Tempest project,[26] however Jane's Defence Weekly later clarified that Sweden was not formally part of the Tempest project, but is rather cooperating on the broader Combat Air Strategy. A decision on full commitment to Tempest by Sweden was expected by the third quarter of 2020.[27]
Italy announced its involvement in Team Tempest on 10 September 2019.[27][28] The Statement of Intent was signed between the UK participant bodies and Italian participant companies (Leonardo Italy, Elettronica, Avio Aero and MBDA Italy).[29]
At the virtual Farnborough Airshow in July 2020, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced seven new companies were joining the Team Tempest consortium: GEUK, GKN, Collins Aerospace, Martin Baker, QinetiQ, Bombardier in Belfast (now Spirit Aerosystems) and Thales UK, along with UK universities and SMEs. The companies will develop more than 60 technology prototypes and demonstration activities. By July 2020, trilateral industry discussions between UK, Sweden and Italy had begun;[30] also announced was an initial investment of £50m in the project by Saab and the opening of a Future Combat Air Systems centre in the UK.[30] Saab did not however explicitly commit to Tempest.[31]
The involvement of Italy and Sweden was confirmed by the signing of a trilateral MoU with the UK, called Future Combat Air System Cooperation (FCASC), on 21 December 2020, "defining general principles for co-operation on an equal basis between the three countries".[3]
In August 2021 Italy announced its intention to invest €2 billion by 2035 starting with a €20 million contribution in 2021 followed by the same amount in 2022 and 2023.[32] In the July 2022 Italian defence budget, the development of the fighter was accelerated with Italy now budgeting a spend of €220 million in 2022 and €345 million in 2023, with a forecast total investment of €3.8 billion by 2036.[33] In October 2023 the Italian Ministry of Defence presented new budget for Parliament approval, which increases the investment forecast to €7.7 billion by 2037.[34]
On 22 December 2021, it was announced that the UK and Japan would jointly develop an engine testbed, with the UK initially contributing £30m for design to be followed by £200m for production of the testbed.[35] On 15 February 2022, the UK and Japan also agreed on the joint development of next-generation fighter radar demonstrator named JAGUAR (Japan And Great Britain Universal Advanced RF sensor), led by Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric.[36][37]
Discussions to combine efforts on Tempest with Japan's own Mitsubishi F-X fighter project as a means to cut development costs began as early as 2017.[38][20][9] The final decision made towards the end of 2022 to merge the development and deployment of a common fighter jet under a project called the "Global Combat Air Program" (GCAP) with development shared with Italy.[39][40][4]
The aircraft has a slightly raised rear fuselage section, to accommodate “S-shaped” ducting behind its twin-engine inlets, to reduce its frontal radar cross-section.[43] Its two engines are placed deep inside the fuselage to minimise radar and infrared signatures.[15]
The aircraft's two generators are able to provide 10 times more electrical power than the Typhoon's.[5][44] One of the generators serves as an electrical starter, eliminating the need of a mechanical or compressed-air starting system for the engine.[45]
The pilot's helmet will monitor brain signals and other medical data, amassing a unique biometric and psychometric information database for each pilot, that will grow the more the pilot flies. The aircraft's AI will work in conjunction with the database to assist the pilot, for example taking over flight controls if the pilot blacks out due to g-force or increasing its own workload when the pilot is overwhelmed or under increased stress e.g. taking over terminal guidance after weapon deployment if the pilot's attention is focused on a more imminent threat to the aircraft. The AI is also intended to act as a gatekeeper that will parse the overwhelming quantity of sensor and intelligence data collected by the aircraft to identify key threats, while throttling the rate processed data is provided to the pilot to prevent the pilot being overloaded.[46][47]
