The United Kingdom has expanded its industry team developing the Tempest future fighter aircraft, with a further seven national companies revealed on 20 July and more set to follow.

Announced to coincide with what would have been the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow, project-lead BAE Systems noted that the additional companies had been signed-up to progress opportunities to work on future combat air concepts and underpinning technologies across Team Tempest.

“The companies involved include Bombardier Belfast, Collins Aerospace in the UK, GE Aviation UK, GKN Aerospace, Martin-Baker, QinetiQ, and Thales UK. This is the first phase of organisations to sign such agreements, with more to be announced,” BAE Systems said.

When the UK revealed its Combat Air Strategy (CAS) at the Farnborough International Air Show in 2018, a main pillar of this strategy was the FCAS Technology Initiative (FCAS TI), in which resided ‘Team Tempest’. This team comprised the Royal Air Force (RAF) Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), BAE Systems (air systems), Leonardo UK (sensors and communications), MBDA UK (effectors), and Rolls-Royce (propulsion), with SecureCloud+ (information systems) being added later.

Italy’s inclusion in the project in September 2019 added the wider Leonardo company, while MBDA UK was joined by MBDA Italy, with Elettronica Group and Avio Aero also joining the effort. While Sweden is part of the wider FCAS, it currently has no direct national or industrial participation in the Tempest project.

Date: 20.07.2020

Source: Janes