In July 2018, at the Farnborough show, July 2018, the British Ministry of Defense [MoD] unveiled the model of a 6th generation combat aircraft, called “Tempest”. And specified that he intended to invest two billion pounds sterling until 2025 to finance the development of a competitor to the Air Combat System of the Future [SCAF]brought to the baptismal font by France and Germany a year earlier.
That being said, the model of this “Tempest” had a family resemblance with the Replica, a stealth aircraft which had been imagined, in secret, in the 1990s by BAE Systems, as part of the FOAS program. [Future Offensive Air System]abandoned in 2005. Moreover, Éric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, involved in the SCAF, ironically remarked on this during a parliamentary hearing.
“There are two initiatives, there is one which is solid, which is Franco-German, there is a new one which has just arrived. We'll see if it's solid, maybe it is. […] But don't believe what you see when you see a mockup. I took a good look at the model of the Tempest: according to my specialists and myself, we had already seen it a long time ago, at least 10-15 years ago,” declared Mr. Trappier.
Since then, joined by Spain, the SCAF project has experienced many vicissitudes, both at the political and industrial level. The disagreements between the French and Germans having finally been overcome, phase 1B, supposed to pave the way for a demonstrator, could only be officially launched in April 2023, for a duration of 36 months.
According to the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, a “summit” bringing together the three involved must be held in December in order to “document the second phase”. This will involve, he explained, “dealing with political questions, such as exports, but also operational questions: what does the plane look like? What is its weight, its capacity to correspond to the needs of the French nuclear deterrent, to land on an aircraft carrier? “.
Given the political difficulties in France and Germany, will this summit be able to take place? In any case, the launch of this second phase is not yet guaranteed. What's more, not all differences have been resolved, particularly in terms of the architecture of the weapons system of the future. [NGWS pour Next Generation Weapon System]. In addition, a recent Senate report estimated that this project was “weakened” by the non-compliance with the principle of the “best athlete” in the choice of manufacturers as well as by the restrictions that Germany could impose on exports.
Meanwhile, the UK first set up 'Team Tempest', with BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, MBDA UK and Leonardo UK. Then, he sealed cooperation with Italy, then with Japan, which was also developing a new generation combat aircraft, namely the F-3. In December 2022, these three countries announced the merger of their respective projects within GCAP [Global Combat Air Programme].
A year later, London, Rome and Tokyo confirmed their cooperation by signing a treaty relating to the establishment of an intergovernmental structure, called GIGO, to carry out the GCAP. And, after the presentation of a “revised” concept of the Tempest / F3 last July, the main manufacturers involved announced, on December 13, the creation of a joint venture whose headquarters will be located in the United Kingdom. The latter, which does not yet have a name, will be owned by BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement [JAIEC, qui réunit Mitsubishi Heavy Industries et Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies]up to 33.3% each.
On this occasion, reports specialist journalist Gareth Jennings of Janes magazine, BAE Systems threw a stone into the SCAF garden. In fact, one of its managers [qu’il n’a pas nommé] said: “I hope you agree with me that GCAP is the only credible sixth generation program outside of those led by Russia, China and the United States.”
That being said, this official probably did not resist the temptation to put in a good word at the expense of the SCAF… The projects of Russia and China in terms of 6th generation combat aviation still remain nebulous. The development of a MiG-41 has been discussed for years, but has never been officially revealed. As for China, it recently presented the model of a new fighter plane, called “White Emperor”, at the Zhuhai air show.
As for the United States, the NGAD program [Next Generation Air Dominance] launched on behalf of the US Air Force has been paused [il reviendra à la prochaine administration Trump de décider de son sort] while the version intended for the US Navy continues its development. At least for now.
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