UK & Italy 6th-Gen “Tempest” Stealth Fighter to Fly With US 6th-Gen NGAD

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) Fly unmanned missions, fire laser weapons, control drones and launch hypersonic weapons are all missions expected of the emerging 6th-generation British-Italian “Tempest” fighter jet effort, a high-speed stealth fighter slated to emerge in coming years.

A London-based “Team Tempest” group involving BAE Systems and Italy’s Leonardo worked on an initial development contract through 2020, and the aircraft is slated to take to the sky by 2025. The fighter jet is intended to fly alongside the Royal Air Force’s 4th-generation Typhoon and complement the UK and Italy’s F-35s.

Initial prototypes are expected to enter service in 2025 and take to the sky, to be followed by full production and an entrance into formal operational service by 2035.

Available concept renderings from BAE Systems show an extremely sleek, stealthy looking airframe which bears some resemblance to the F-22. It appears to be a twin-engine configuration with a smooth, blended wing-fuselage body and rounded top. The first prototype is slated to emerge in 2025 as an initial step toward development and full production.

Tempest & NGAD Parallels

A quick exploration of some of the sought-after characteristics for the Tempest reveal distinct similarities with the US Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) effort, as both aircraft will likely control groups of “loyal wingman” drones able to conduct forward surveillance, perform scout missions and even deliver weapons when directed by a human. The US Air Force, for example, is developing what it calls Combat Collaborative Aircraft, small drones designed to accompany and support a manned stealth fighter. Firing laser weapons is yet another critical element of the Tempest platform, something closely aligned with US plans for the F-35 and NGAD aircraft. An ability to fire lasers from a fighter jet requires cutting edge and long sought-after breakthroughs in the realm of mobile power. Transporting sufficient mobile power to sustain high-intensity, scalable laser operations in a small enough form factor to arm fighter jets has been a long-standing challenge for weapons developers. It is quite a significant effort, as arming fighter jets with lasers introduces a series of important tactical advantages such as the ability to attack and destroy enemy targets at the speed of light. Lasers are also scalable, meaning they can fully destroy, incinerate or simply disable an enemy target depending upon operational need and they are low cost when compared to standard munitions.