Europe challenges the States
The European defense industry complex deserves respect. If only because in the era of militant-pacifist (excuse me for such a pun) politicians, he manages to be heard by everyone. British BAE Systems is a good illustration of this. However, she is not alone. Let us recall the famous "contact of the century" (MRCA), in which the Indians intended to receive 126 new-built fighters, fantastic by modern standards. Then the French Dassault Rafale and the pan-European Eurofighter Typhoon bypassed not only the Russian MiG-35, but also the American F-16IN Super Viper and F / A-18E / F Super Hornet. As we know, Rafal won, but again, Typhoon, unlike other contenders, had every chance of gaining the upper hand. C'est La Vie, as the French say.
However, it is important to note that the list of contestants did not include the fifth generation. India is not a partner of the United States in the F-35 program and, of course, cannot count on any preferences in this case. But now the fifth generation has already, one might say, entered into force. And now the Germans themselves and the French themselves in the future would have to fly on the American "Lightning II", if not for one "but". The political paths of the United States and the European Union are gradually diverging. The balance of forces in the world is changing, priorities are changing. Apparently, to protect themselves, and, of course, to support their native companies, in April last year, France and Germany signed an agreement, including the creation of a new generation fighter. Dassault Aviation will become the main violin, and the concept itself is called Système de combat aérien futur, or SCAF. The fighter of the future should replace the Dassault Mirage 2000 and Dassault Rafale in the French Air Force, as well as the Panavia Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon in the Luftwaffe.
What about Britain? Still formally part of the EU (the country is expected to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019), the UK was almost the only one in Europe who previously pushed the new generation very zealously. Back in the 90s, BAE Systems worked on the FOAS (Future Offensive Air System) program, which was closed in 2005. Then they intended to create a promising combat aircraft to replace the Tornado GR.4 in the Royal Air Force. At the time of closing, only a model was built in the hardware. Then they hatched a pan-European project (Britain, France, Germany and others) to create either the fifth or the sixth generation, or the strike UAV. And now, when the new agreement is ready and beckons like an appetizing dish, the British were simply not invited to the table. And they decided to do something of their own. At least in words.
What they showed us
Presented at the Farnborough Air Show in July this year, the layout of the British (with some reservations) Tempest fighter of the new generation did not leave the agenda for a very long time. Let's briefly tell you. The British will not be alone: in addition to British BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and MBDA UK, the Italian Leonardo is participating in a project called Team Tempest. The leading role, of course, belongs to Britain: without it the project would never have appeared. Franco-German plans to create a new generation fighter are very serious (however, these are still only plans), so it is unlikely that other countries wanted to spend money on creating an analogue.
Presumably, the designation "Tempest" was not chosen by chance. There is a connection with the famous British fighter of the final stage of the Second World Hawker Tempest - one might say, one of the symbols of British power. They intend to spend $ 2, 7 billion on the project until 2025. The aircraft should appear in both manned and unmanned versions. The fighter is made according to the tailless scheme: it has two keels deflected to the sides, as well as two engines. The mock-up demonstrates a "fashionable" uninterrupted flashlight, which should help improve stealth on a serial combat vehicle. In general, the aircraft must meet the highest stealth criteria. Other important features of the stealth technology are clearly visible in its design.
Later it became known that they want to equip the fighter with a virtual cockpit. Its elements will be added to the pilot's visual field using a helmet-mounted display, and the displayed information will be highly customizable. The concept of the virtual cockpit presented by BAE Systems implies an almost complete rejection of the instruments in the usual form. They want to install only one multifunctional touchscreen in the cockpit, but it should only turn on if the augmented reality system fails.
Lady wants to surprise the world
On this, the news about the project, in general, ends. Which is not surprising, considering that it is at an early stage of implementation, and it may take several decades before the serial version appears. However, there is a high probability that a serial fighter will never appear. There are several reasons for this.
Potentially gigantic price
Modern stealth fighters are incredibly expensive. The cost of the F-35 development program is often deliberately or mistakenly exaggerated. However, even the amount of $ 55 billion indicated in open sources can "sober up" anyone. The development of the F-22, by the way, cost more than $ 60 billion. Of course, such sums hit hard even on the US economy. By the way, according to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, US military expenditures in 2017 amounted to $ 610 billion, while British expenditures reached $ 47 in the announced period. Foggy Albion let ahead not only Russia, but also France. And also a number of other countries. In general, the realities are such that a fifth-generation fighter (not to mention the sixth) can only be developed and put into production by the most economically advanced countries in the world.
Technological risks
Finances alone, however, will not be enough: for the "Briton" another problem may be more tangible. Today, only the United States and China have serial stealth. The Japanese ATD-X "stalled", the fate of the Russian Su-57 is uncertain, at least when it comes to large-scale production. This is because the creation of a new generation fighter is not only huge money, but also huge technological difficulties associated, among other things, with the introduction of the notorious stealth technology. At the same time, the former mistress of the seas has not only the experience of building full-fledged stealths, but also the experience of independent construction of modern fighters, as such. The latest purely British development is the Harrier. He comes from the 60s. In the case of Typhoon, Britain was simply a participant in the program, albeit one of the most significant.
Lack of visible goals and objectives for the program
The fighters of the Cold War had to fight for supremacy in the skies. Modern fighters fight primarily for excellence in the arms market. Tempest doesn't fit into any of these scenarios. There is no real air threat to Britain, and most likely it will not be able to squeeze the Americans or rival Europeans out of the arms market. Another important point: if the promising European SCAF is designed to meet the needs of the air forces of a number of European countries, then Tempest is likely to be of interest only to the Royal Air Force. However, spending tens of billions of pounds sterling on development in order to eventually build several dozen machines for their Air Force is completely absurd. Moreover, you can always buy a new batch of F-35s from the Americans. Or the promising fighters that Lockheed Martin wants to build on the Raptor base.
The presentation of the Tempest layout could have several goals. Perhaps, in this way, British companies once again wanted to declare themselves in order, for example, to fit into the Système de combat aérien futur program. Or to encourage British politicians to rethink their relationship with France and Germany for closer cooperation on a number of defense projects. But this is hardly a real development of a British combat aircraft. Most likely, in the future we will not see any new "national" fighters from European countries at all. Even a hypothetical collapse of the EU, most likely, will not change anything in this case.
