Dassault and Airbus, with Dassault as
prime contractor, as well as the Remote
Carriers and Air Combat Cloud with
Airbus as prime contractor, will be the
cornerstone of the Future Combat
Air System.’
Dassault and Airbus expect a contract
award for the first demonstrator
phase by quarter four of 2019. Alberto
Gutiérrez, head of military aircraft at
Airbus Defence and Space, said: ‘Starting
FCAS on a bilateral basis between
France and Germany was important to
kick-start the program and to get it on
track. The integration of Spain is now
a credible step forward towards the
envisioned Europeanization of FCAS.’
The FCAS project is to be realized
under a tiered process. The Système de
Combat Aérien Futur (SCAF), or FCAS, is
envisaged as an interconnected system
of systems to include a full spectrum of
military sensors including observation
and communications satellites,
airborne early warning and control and
reconnaissance aircraft.
The air vehicles themselves include
NGF accompanied by unmanned aircraftwingmen and missiles, so-called Remote
Carriers. NGF will manifest itself as a new
manned replacement for the Rafale,
Eurofighter and Tornado for France,
Germany and Spain.
MBDA’s Antoine Bouvier said: ‘SCAF
will have to be able to take the future
Franco-British cruise missile and the
successor of the Meteor air-to-air missile.
We are also studying a new type of
unpowered air-to-ground weapon,
the SmartGlider, which will integrate
artificial intelligence functions and
innovative penetration strategies
against enemy anti-aircraft defenses.
We are also considering Remote
Carriers, which will provide interception,
sensor or communication functions.
And we will also continue work on
laser weapons.’Turkey advances TF-X
Within minutes of the NGF unveiling,
Turkish Aerospace took the covers off
its new fighter concept — TF-X. At a
time when Turkey is looking set to be
kicked out of the F-35 program amid a
spat with Washington over its planned(RC) and an Air Combat Cloud (ACC)
— for initial demonstrators and live
flights by 2026.
This demonstrator phase will run from
2019 until mid-2021 as a technology
development project that will also
include MBDA and Thales, with Safran
and MTU in charge of developing a new
engine for the NGF. ‘The Joint Concept
Study awarded to Dassault Aviation and
Airbus in January 2019 was the first step
in a fruitful co-operation between both
companies,’ said Eric Trappier, chairman
and chief executive officer of Dassault
Aviation. ‘The first demonstrator
phase marks another decisive step in
the next generation weapon system
industrial organization in which the
New-Generation Fighter, to be built byTop: The slender
lines of the
NGF with the
Remote Carrier
concepts
alongside.
Jamie Hunter
Right: Early
concept
diagrams of
the NGF were
for a two-
seat design.
Although still
envisaged
as manned,
the exact
configuration —
or name — were
not revealed in
Paris.
Jamie Hunterhttp://www.combataircraft.net // August 2019 53
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