A artist rendering of the future fighter demonstrator. (RAF)
BELFAST — Lead industry partners BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and MBDA UK, alongside the UK MoD, have jointly unveiled Britain’s future fighter demonstrator design, in line with a 2027 first flight target.
This demonstrator will be the “flagship” aircraft critical to de-risking new technologies set to be equipped on the trilateral Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) next generation platform, the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) in a statement today.
An artist rendering of the demonstrator showcases a design complete with a single cockpit, twin engine, canted twin tail and delta wing blueprint.
The “main structure, wings and tail fins” of the crewed, supersonic, low-observable aircraft “are all taking shape using pioneering robotic and digital manufacturing and assembly technologies at BAE Systems’ sites in Lancashire [England], signifying the advanced stages of its development,” according to the statement.
“Designed to test a wide range of new technologies, including the integration of stealth compatible features, the Combat Air Flying Demonstrator is a crucial part of the work to develop manufacturing processes and de-risk the next generation combat aircraft that will be delivered” under GCAP – a partnership between the UK, Italy and Japan.
The three nation program aims to replace British and Italian Eurofighter Typhoons and Japanese F-2s, with the successor plane set to enter service in 2035. The UK future fighter demonstrator pictured today is a separate but related endeavor and does not have a formal name.
Over 300 simulated flight hours in the demonstrator have been accumulated by test pilots from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and the RAF, according to the RAF statement.
“Collectively, this important [simulator based] work aims to dramatically reduce the time and costs involved in producing military jets, while maintaining the sovereign design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities needed to keep the UK at the forefront of global aerospace innovation,” it added.
Herman Claesen, managing director of Future Combat Air Systems at BAE Systems told reporters last year that GCAP industry partners are “steaming ahead” with design activities of the next generation fighter and shared that the next engineering milestone is a systems requirements review, directly supporting plans aligned to the launch of the project’s development phase later this year.
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Author: Tim Martin
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