UK-based global major aerospace and defence group BAE Systems has, in conjunction with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), UK-based power and propulsion group Rolls-Royce, and pan-European missile group MBDA, released an image showing the design of the UK’s piloted Combat Air Flying Demonstrator aircraft. This is a major step towards the development of the joint UK-Japan-Italy Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP, also known in the UK as the Tempest) for a sixth-generation (stealthy) heavy fighter aircraft.

The Combat Flying Demonstrator (it doesn’t have a name and its title isn’t even abbreviated) is, technically, not part of the GCAP programme, as it is (currently) a 100% British project (GCAP is 40% British, 40% Japanese, 20% Italian). But it will be used to demonstrate technologies that will be incorporated into the GCAP aircraft.

Indeed, its construction is demonstrating the manufacturing technologies that will be used to produce GCAP aircraft. These include additive manufacturing, collaborative robotics (“cobotics” – robots working with humans), digital twins, virtual simulation, and model-based systems engineering. The aircraft’s main structure and its wings and tail are all in the process of assembly, and 66% of its structural weight is now being manufactured.

The aircraft is the first piloted supersonic fighter-type aircraft to be developed in the UK in 40 years. (The last one, the BAE EAP, was also a national demonstrator that tested technologies and concepts for a multinational programme, which resulted in the successful Eurofighter Typhoon.) The new demonstrator is scheduled to make its first flight by the end of 2027, but has already been “flown” for more than 300 hours by civil and military test pilots in a specially-developed simulator.

“The programme is accelerating the development of advanced design approaches and manufacturing techniques, helping to sharpen the UK’s industrial edge and deliver benefits beyond the production of the aircraft,” highlighted BAE Systems future combat air systems delivery director Tony Godbold. “As well as developing a unique aircraft, we’re building the technical foundations, workforce readiness and digital maturity essential to deliver the next generation of combat air capability.”

Analysts point out that the image shows a twin-engine aircraft with a shoulder-mounted wing, and a broad fuselage with a flat underside, which would accommodate a weapons bay. The nose is broad, giving plenty of space for an advanced radar.

The actual GCAP prototype is expected to make its first flight in 2030.