The U.K.'s New 'Tempest' Stealth Fighter Project Already Faces Serious Challenges

[GhostZ06]

The U.K. Ministry of Defense has unveiled new plans for a new stealth fighter jet called Tempest at the biennial Farnborough Airshow. The announcement coincides with the release of a new Combat Air Strategy, which focuses heavily on sustaining and expanding the United Kingdom’s domestic defense industrial base and international cooperation in that sector, but there are already questions about the project’s viability given the country’s increasingly uncertain political and economic future.

Underscoring the emphasis on engagement with the private sector, U.K. Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson offered details about Tempest and the country’s new aerial warfare strategy in front of a full-size notional mockup of the jet at BAE’s booth at Farnborough on July 16, 2018. The U.K.-headquartered firm will lead “Team Tempest,” which also includes engine-maker Rolls-Royce, Italian defense contractor Leonardo, and the European missile consortium MBDA.
“We have been a world leader in the combat air sector for a century, with an enviable array of skills and technology, and this Strategy makes clear that we are determined to make sure it stays that way,” Williamson said. “British defense industry is a huge contributor to U.K. prosperity, creating thousands of jobs in a thriving advanced manufacturing sector, and generating a U.K. sovereign capability that is the best in the world.”


Though Tempest’s design isn’t anywhere close to firm, slides Team Tempest showed at the event described a number of increasingly common basic requirements for an advanced fighter jet design. Though described as a sixth-generation design, what BAE Systems and its partners have shown so far looks very much like what many countries are looking at for new fifth-generation types. The mockup and concept art show a stealthy, modified delta-wing planform with a pair of vertical small, outwardly-canted vertical stabilizers.

The aircraft will have two engines hidden away deep inside the airframe to help keep its radar and infrared signatures as low as possible. Rolls-Royce says they are working on an engine design that will leverage composite materials and advanced manufacturing processes to be lightweight, have better thermal management, and still keep costs low. The powerplants will have digital controls for more precise power management and to readily provide maintenance personnel with information about whether components need replacement and other aspects of the system’s “health.”
Tempest will have a wide array of sensors, including advanced radars and multi-spectral cameras, as well as unspecified data links and communications equipment. As with other advanced fighter jet designs, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the goal is to provide the pilot with as complete a picture of the battlespace as possible, allow the jet’s the to share that information with other friendly forces, and let the pilot pull additional data from other assets in the air, on the ground, and even potentially in space.

The United Kingdom is looking for a significant amount of modularity and reconfigurable components in the aircraft, too. The jets will have a modular payload bay, which could accommodate weapons – including offensive and defensive directed energy weapons – additional sensors, electronic warfare suites, or other systems to allow it to perform multiple roles. This could allow different aircraft in a single flight to carry only one type of system, with sensor-packing planes locating targets and feeding that information via their data links to others in the formation loaded with a maximum amount of weaponry

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god damn this plane is beautiful. About time you lazy stupid brits start building awesome aircraft again

 

[Billy no mates]

We don't do stuff anymore , we're still to tired and pissed of from running the world , Malaysian slave kids make all our stuff for a £ so we can concentrate on important stuff like stuffing our faces with chicken masala lasagne .

 

[Gl0kta]

The purpose of the UK defence industry is to show we can develop tech ourselves to enable us to buy better/cheaper stuff from the yanks.

Occasionally we screw up and put our crappy stuff into production like aircraft carriers with no cats or planes.

 

[GhostZ06]

The purpose of the UK defence industry is to show we can develop tech ourselves to enable us to buy better/cheaper stuff from the yanks.

Occasionally we screw up and put our crappy stuff into production like aircraft carriers with no cats or planes.

england was leading the world in aviation and design in the early days of the cold war. id like to see them design something that would be a world beating then relying on F-35.

Like, yall were getting ready to have a huge space industry as well which was also pissed down the drain. I hope you guys makes this new tempest fighter, its gorgeous design. It looks 6th gen

 

[GhostZ06]

looks like the project is starting from here to 2025

 

[Billy no mates]

england was leading the world in aviation and design in the early days of the cold war. id like to see them design something that would be a world beating then relying on F-35.

Like, yall were getting ready to have a huge space industry as well which was also pissed down the drain. I hope you guys makes this new tempest fighter, its gorgeous design. It looks 6th gen

We were doing some good development on a next gen Harrier and then gave up , I suspect we'll do the same here get a prototype that shows some promise then buy something of the shelf from somewhere else .

 

[Reefer1]

Id be stunned and surprised if they even ever get a prototype flying.

Wont ever enter production.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

All great engineering projects face hurdles.
Looks pretty awesome

 

[Boagrius]

Looks similar to Boeing's X32 minus the bizarre chin intake arrangement.

 

[Videer]

Such sexi. Too bad that actually making a sixth generation fighter from a paper plane to reality is going to be a gargantuan effort that UK alone wont be able to do in a milion years, I doubt even a pan-european effort is not going to make it into reality.

 

[flashNsmash]

the original tempest is one of the greatest aircraft of ww2 imo

 

[GhostZ06]

We were doing some good development on a next gen Harrier and then gave up , I suspect we'll do the same here get a prototype that shows some promise then buy something of the shelf from somewhere else .

England by default needs 2 frames. one for range and one not for range.

 

[GhostZ06]

Looks similar to Boeing's X32 minus the bizarre chin intake arrangement.

acutally looks like the northrop version of the F35

 

[GhostZ06]

 

[GhostZ06]

FARNBOROUGH, UNITED KINGDOM —The United States could potentially contribute to the development of a new fighter jet envisioned by the United Kingdom, a top Air Force acquisition official said July 17.

U.K. Defence Minister Gavin Williamson unveiled a model of the hypothetical aircraft named Tempest at the Farnborough International Air Show outside London. The goal is to field a new combat air capability by 2035. Early decisions about how acquire the platform will be made by the end of 2020, according to the British Defence Ministry.

“That’s one of the things I’m hoping to talk about this week [at Farnborough] with the U.K.,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper told reporters during a press conference. “We’ll look forwarding to discussions to hear what the U.K. is thinking about for their airplane and determine if there’s a role they would like us to play. … So more to follow.”

Roper also plans to visit the Royal Air Force’s rapid capabilities office, which is similar to that of the U.S. Air Force, he noted. Officials on both sides of the Atlantic are using organizations such as these to more quickly bring new technologies into their forces. Roper hopes to see more collaboration.

“We’re going to be looking for areas that we can work together,” he said. “To achieve the national defense strategy … we’re going to have to be able to not just fight with our allies, we’re going to need to be able to build things with them.”

The Air Force acquisition chief is also interested in potential U.K. involvement in the AFWERX initiative, which was established last year to help connect the service with innovative nontraditional industry partners. The first AFWERX office was stood up in Las Vegas. In recent weeks the Air Force opened another in Austin, Texas.

“We would love to think of expanding this storefront that we have in the Air Force with allies and partners because their industry base will bring new ideas,” Roper said. “Now innovation is global, so we can’t afford to have a [technology] storefront that’s only on our doorstep. We need it across the globe.”

The importance of speed in acquisitions will be a major theme in Roper’s discussions with U.K. officials and industry at Farnborough, he said.

The British have strong expertise in a variety of defense technologies, he noted.

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/7/17/us-could-partner-with-uk-on-new-fighter


Odd, why would we join in on this program? We already plan on making 2 frames, one for the airforce and one for the navy, unless we plan on making 3?

 

[Reefer1]

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/7/17/us-could-partner-with-uk-on-new-fighter


Odd, why would we join in on this program? We already plan on making 2 frames, one for the airforce and one for the navy, unless we plan on making 3?

Because that's about the only chance in hell it has of ever being made. It could become the cheapo Western stealth to compete for sales with the Chinese stealth's.

 

[Boagrius]

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/7/17/us-could-partner-with-uk-on-new-fighter


Odd, why would we join in on this program? We already plan on making 2 frames, one for the airforce and one for the navy, unless we plan on making 3?

*Airframes. The US is planning on two seperate airframes. The word 'frame' on its own doesn't mean the same thing ;-)

My guess is the Brits might consult with LM/Northrop/Raytheon etc about getting involved in some way. Doesn't mean the US will actually field the jet itself.

Because that's about the only chance in hell it has of ever being made. It could become the cheapo Western stealth to compete for sales with the Chinese stealth's.

Realistically the F35A is about as close as you're going to get to a cheap western stealth jet. Now while it does seem to be on track to a ~$80m price tag (pretty good), it's taken a monstrous amount of R&D investment (+ pain) and a vast international production run (~3000 airframes) to make that a possibility.

I just don't see the Tempest being able to generate comparable economies of scale... Unless they really skimp on capability the unit cost will probably be on the higher side.

 

[GhostZ06]

*Airframes. The US is planning on two seperate airframes. The word 'frame' on its own doesn't mean the same thing ;-)

My guess is the Brits might consult with LM/Northrop/Raytheon etc about getting involved in some way. Doesn't mean the US will actually field the jet itself.



Realistically the F35A is about as close as you're going to get to a cheap western stealth jet. Now while it does seem to be on track to a ~$80m price tag (pretty good), it's taken a monstrous amount of R&D investment (+ pain) and a vast international production run (~3000 airframes) to make that a possibility.

I just don't see the Tempest being able to generate comparable economies of scale... Unless they really skimp on capability the unit cost will probably be on the higher side.

Dont we usually share tech pretty man openly an deep with England and Aussie are so linked. (well even if Fuck boy trump took a hot shit on britian)

 

[Boagrius]

Dont we usually share tech pretty man openly an deep with England and Aussie are so linked. (well even if Fuck boy trump took a hot shit on britian)

Yep pretty much!

 

[Terminal Strike]

It's able to penetrate enemy defences by asking for their radar loicence and telling them to bin those surface to air missiles. In dogfights, it can monitor an enemy pilots social media and have them arrested for hate-speech. It's cutting edge arsenal ensures that enemy cities now get to enjoy that which is part and parcel of living in London.