Team Tempest 3D Model - RAF

The RAF & Team Tempest have a 3D model of Tempest up. It has a full delta wing. I would love to get some commentary on this from folks who are bigger experts than me on what handling and internal weapons payload might be for this design.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/team-tempest/tempest/

Overall, it is very nice looking design, certainly the world's best attempt at a 5th Generation fighter outside the United States thus far, at least IMO. And yes, despite attempts at branding it a 6th Gen fighter, it isn't really that. The sensors and electronics seem very F-35-like while the airframe appears designed with an eye toward greater "fighter" performance. With a lifting body design, a huge wing area and with thrust vectoring engines, it should turn well. It could be a complete beast at higher altitudes. It very much looks like they are trying to combine a stealthy airframe with the electronic brains of an F-35 and the all out performance of an F-22 or Typhoon. Provided they can get it into production and make more than just a few of them, it looks like it has the potential to be an extremely capable platform. I hope it is successful. I think we need another cutting edge fighter design in production in the west. Aircraft like this, along with the F-22 and F-35 should keep western allied nations well ahead of Russian and Chinese developments. I can clearly see why Japan is also taking an interest in the Tempest design.

The key is to be modular so new weapons and sensors can be added when the RAF finds the money to fund them.

Based on your assessment that Tempest is Typhoon performance meets F-35 avionics and stealth, it will be too bad that Tempest will be fielded 20-25 years after the F-35, say 2015 for the F-35 and 2040 for Tempest. On the other hand, maybe BAE can get its act together and get Tempest going sooner.

You mentioned Japan. Japan seems to want a plane in the air earlier than Tempest's timeline.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/12/09/n ... ent-event/

Leonardo, which is the project lead for electronics, is developing a new radar technology called Multi-Function Radar Frequency System. The new sensor will reportedly collect and process 10’000 times more data than existing systems, or “equivalent to the internet traffic of a large city every second”, providing the operators with a clear view of the battlespace and of potential targets. According to the company, complete sub-systems have already been built and successfully tested, paving the way eventually to future airborne testing.

BAE Systems if working on another revolutionary concept, the “wearable cockpit”. In this case, the cockpit as we know it, full of switches, gauges and screens, becomes completely digital and all physical controls are replaced by Augmented and Virtual Reality systems. The new cockpit would be projected inside the pilot’s helmet and completely customizable according to the pilot’s preference and mission’s needs.

As human-AI teaming, a virtual copilot is being developed to interact with the pilot and provide support during the flight. “Psycho-physiological” technologies are also being trialed to study the operator’s physical and cognitive processes to better understand increasing exertion, stress, workload and fatigue. According to the company, some of these technologies are being tested controlled test flight conditions aboard the Typhoon to inform further development. MBDA UK is also working on the wearable cockpit concept to integrate weapons systems information and operations.

Rolls-Royce is working on the advanced combustion system technology that will power Tempest. The next-generation system is being designed to be hotter than previous ones to increase the efficiency of the engine, its range and speed, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Together with the higher-temperature combustion, there will be a new thermal management system that will use the turbine as a heat sink to recycle thermal energy, removing the need for overboard venting and improving the efficiency, and an increased electrical power production, reportedly in the order of one megawatt, that will be used to power all the aircraft’s subsystems.

This follows the assessment by Rolls Royce that future fighter aircraft will have unprecedented levels of electrical power demand and thermal load that need to be managed accordingly to maintain the airframe’s low observability. Being more specific, the company stated that they will integrate an Electrical Embedded Starter Generator that will function both as an APU and as an electrical generator after the engine is spooled up.

The Tempest is expected to have also his own loyal wingman, currently being developed as the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept. According to the MoD, LANCA will offer “increased protection, survivability and information for the manned aircraft – and could even provide an unmanned combat air ‘fleet’ in the future.” A demonstration project, called “Moquito” and comparable to the Skyborg program of the U.S. Air Force, is currently in its first phase of evaluation.

I love the design, it harkens back to the "looks right, flies right" saying. I guess we'll see.

To get the kind of performance though they're imagining, a lot of new tech has to come together in a short period of time. It's fair to say the potential is there. Whether that potential is realized though, is another matter. I would think the engines pose the biggest challenge, followed closely by the avionics/sensors.

Meteor will be long in the tooth by then too, so a more robust BVR weapon will have to be ready by then too IMO..

Meteor will be long in the tooth by then too, so a more robust BVR weapon will have to be ready by then too IMO..

In AAM terms it will still be fairly new (first AMRAAM shots were in the early 80's). But the JNAAM will be arriving in 2025 (Meteor with AESA seeker head) which will keep it competitive. MBDA have other AAM concepts, primarily using the Asraam shape (but primaily smaller). A lot of the effort appears to be on dual mode, or tri-mode seekers, which will probably end up on Meteor as well.

Meteor may have lasting advantage to utilize if it can be launched and flown-out without alerting MAWS early. Good for going after RCS of bombers, MPA and HALE ISR. Good result too if Meteor just produces a mission-kill (no own high-values lost), then hit it on the ground, if it manages to get away. DIRCM doesn't negate it. If air picture is still being informed by HF and VHF and an unseen VLO jet launches Meteor at long-range on a teaming drone's PID that's probably going to be effective for a few more decades. It could get to a bomber before an effective directed-energy weapon could hit it in a lot of WX, especially if a bomber goes in low in WX. Russia claims its ALCM-ski for Tu160 has over 3,000 km range. A faster longer-range heavier hypersonic AAM would probably be seen much sooner also. And can those things even hit a maneuvering target at low-level? Probably not.

Given RuAF is committed to 4th-gen RCS level for most of its fleet, and PLAAF also, low-level is where they'll predictably go to make lower-observable attacks where their standoff platforms will be harder to kill. Meteor will probably remain very effective against that.

The Italian Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, the British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace and the Swedish Minister for Defence Peter Hultkvist signed a trilateral Future Combat Air System Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding on Dec. 21, 2020. The news was disclosed by the Italian Government only few days ago. This MoU arrived about a year after Italy officially joined the other two countries to develop Tempest.

This Memorandum of Understanding covers the cooperation for research, development and joint concepting of the Tempest 6th generation fighter aircraft which will replace the Eurofighter Typhoon (in Italy and UK) and the Saab Gripen (in Sweden). The goal of the MoU is to have an equal participation of the signatory countries in the activities related to Tempest, with positive effects on each own defense industry, small and medium enterprises, research institutes and universities.


https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/05/i ... rstanding/