As per the ambitous project, GCAP is intended to expand each nation’s defence capabilities to address rising threats from Russia and China. It merges Japan’s F-X programme with the UK and Italy’s Tempest project, with the aim of delivering a supersonic jet by 2035.
Britain’s biggest defence companies, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, are working together alongside industrial partners Leonardo of Italy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan on the programme.
The Global Combat Air Programme strategically important partnership, bringing together the governments of the UK, Italy and Japan, and their respective industries, led by BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) to collaborate on shared military and industrial objectives in the delivery of a next generation combat air capability.
Why is Tempest so special?
The combat aircraft, called Tempest in the UK, is set to be in service in 2035 and will be one of the world’s most advanced, interoperable, and adaptable and connected fighter jets in service.
It will boast an advanced intelligent weapons system, a software-driven interactive cockpit, integrated sensors and a powerful next generation radar capable of providing 10,000 times more data than current systems, giving it a battle-winning advantage.Tempest will provide several modes of operation, combining manned, unmanned and optionally-manned platforms, with onboard and offboard data processing and a range of pilot decisions aids when manned flight is being conducted. This is called scalable autonomy. Scalable autonomy will be key in the future as operating environments become more complex and threats become more sophisticated and dangerous.Tempest needs a range of high-density power and propulsion system to be world beating. “This integrated power approach reduces the number of energy exchanges, maximising the potential of the gas-turbine as the primary power source,” said Royal UK Force on Project Tempest.
The new generation jets are expected to have cockpits without a single physical dial or screen. Instead, pilots will wear a next generation augmented and virtual reality helmet that will project interactive cockpit displays and controls directly in front of their eyes.
As per the statement on the project, the Tempest operator will be able to think and act two to three steps ahead of their adversary because of the advanced and highly-integrated sensors, non-kinetic effects, and communications systems. This huge advantage will allow them to take the fight to the enemy and deliver a range of missions including team defence and surveillance.
All of these systems will be highly-integrated, and designed to work seamlessly together, unlike current fighter jets that tend to be separate pieces of equipment, such as separate radar and electro-optics.
Operators will be able to make decisions with more confidence because they are not relying on single sensors. Instead, multiple types of sensors will work in concert to gather information which is automatically cross-checked and cross-referenced by the Tempest system.
Tempest will constantly mine and coordinate data from multiple sources, such as other aircraft, to provide extremely reliable and useable information, that can in turn be shared with other aircraft in a ‘combat cloud’.
Tempest needs to support existing weapons, planned weapons, and the weapons of the future. For instance, the next generation Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile Meteor and the network enabled precision surface attack missiles of the SPEAR family of weapons, will be optimised for Tempest.
Effectors will be used to protect Tempest by helping to assess and evaluate incoming threats, and then in managing the deployment of the appropriate method to defeat it.
We’re also working to make effectors part of Tempest’s sensor network, to further enhance the information available to pilots and operators.
Tempest will have the capability to carry weapons internally, rather than being attached externally, to be highly survivable in a combat role.