The military potential of Russia and the strengthening of China are haunted not only by the United States, but also by Europe. If a few years ago one could only joke about European fifth / sixth generation fighters, now at least France and Germany are determined to acquire a large number of such aircraft in the future. Moreover, we are talking about completely new aviation complexes that do not yet exist.
Last year it became known about the desire of France and Germany to get a new combat aircraft. The program was called not very original - Future Combat Air System, or FCAS. Within its framework, new control systems, new weapons, UAVs should appear, and most importantly, a completely new sixth generation fighter, known as the New Generation Fighter. Its full-size model was first shown at this year's air show in Le Bourget, France.
And what about the British, who are about to leave the EU? One of the main brainchildren of Brexit can be considered a new generation national fighter jet. Recall that in July 2018, at the Farnborough Air Show, the British presented for the first time a layout of a promising new generation fighter, which they called Tempest. Again, not a very original name: if you remember, this was the name of one of the most powerful fighters of the Second World War - Hawker Tempest.
A lot has already been said about the promising machine: in short, it should be a fighter made according to the tailless aerodynamic scheme. According to the presentation, it will receive two deflected keels, as well as two engines, which conceptually makes it similar to the F-22, and not to the F-35, which, as you know, has only one engine. Also, the British aircraft should receive an uninterrupted canopy: this solution helps to improve stealth performance.
It turns out that, in addition to the F-35 and "fours" represented by Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon, the Europeans will operate two more promising fighters. And this is where the fun begins. Firstly, these machines (provided, of course, that they appear at all) will compete in the most severe way both for the internal EU market and for the external one. The combat aircraft market is generally extremely narrow: de facto, it is the exact opposite of the civilian aircraft market. A couple of examples. The newest Boeing 787 Dreamliner has already been produced in series in more than 870 aircraft, and its competitor, the Airbus A350 XWB, received 812 orders in April 2014.
At the same time, successful in many ways, Dassault Rafale was built over the years in a modest series of about 170 cars. The largest foreign customers, Qatar and India, each ordered 36 Rafale. And most likely there will be no more orders: the fifth generation has already entered into force. Recall that there are no orders for the Russian Su-57 from other countries at all.
On one wing?
In such a situation, a number of experts rightly assumed that the Tempest program has two options. The first is the curtailment of new purchases of the F-35, and the second is the investment in the development program of the Franco-German fighter New Generation Fighter. The reason for this is generally understandable. The economic potential of France and Germany is not comparable to the British, and the development cost of a sixth-generation fighter could reach $ 60 billion and more. That is, it will almost certainly be higher than the cost of developing the F-35, on the design of which the Americans spent more than $ 50 billion.
However, the Foggy Albion itself does not bother "entertaining arithmetic", moreover, in recent months the Tempest program has become a few steps closer to its implementation.
What happened? Firstly, in July it became known that Sweden wants to join the program, which, apparently, has finally "buried" the project of the fifth generation national fighter, widely known in narrow circles as Flygsystem 2020. The reality is that such a machine is a small country with population of ten million people is objectively too expensive. According to Martin Taylor, chief operating officer of BAE's aviation division and one of the aircraft's main developers, negotiations with Sweden are "at a very advanced stage." However, the Swedes themselves this summer were more restrained. "If we had concluded an agreement between the Swedish Department of Defense and the British Department of Defense, we would have made it public," said a spokesman for the Swedish Department of Defense.
But the program is developing, and rapidly. In July of this year, it became known that the British company Aeralis Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding with France's Thales to develop a ground-based training and simulation system concept to complement Britain's Tempest program. Collaboration should include working together to create an architecture for a future information system that will integrate data on pilot training, aircraft use and software applications. This confirms the earlier thesis about the development of the aircraft "from the inside": when the electronic filling will be created first and only then the aircraft itself.
The really important event took place later, in September 2019. At DSEI 2019, the Italian government officially announced that it will join the Tempest program. “This is an extremely positive result achieved thanks to efficient and precise work, which confirms the highest potential of the Italian defense industry,” the Italian Defense Ministry quotes the words of its head Lorenzo Guerini.
Earlier, we recall, it became known that Leonardo, one of the largest engineering holdings in Italy, intends to participate in the development of the British sixth generation fighter. In addition to him and the British BAE, such major "players" of the world market as MBDA and Rolls Royce will work on the aircraft.
What is the bottom line? Tempest is doing well, contrary to earlier forecasts. Time will tell what will happen next. Much depends on the determination of the British to leave the EU, and now also on the political situation in Italy, which is very tense and unpredictable. That is, FCAS still has more chances of being embodied in metal. But the British make spectacular presentations …
