ANALYSIS
The announcement of Team Tempest is a
strong and welcome statement of intent
from the UK when it comes to future
ghter ambitions. It marks a step-change
from previous strategies that appeared to
only favor unmanned solutions for FCAS.
This has two clear e ects. Firstly, it
places in question the Anglo-French
UCAV element of FCAS, not least due
to funding. The UK also appears to
have stolen a march over the Franco-
German New Fighter, which received
the governmental go-ahead earlier
this year. Team Tempest reinforces the
commitment in the 2015 SDSR for FCAS
TI, with a £2-billion investment in this
future capability.
The concept aircraft, while unlikely to
resemble the nal product, has been
designed and evolved by BAE Systems,
Leonardo, MBDA and Rolls-Royce, which
have joined together with the RAF
Rapid Capabilities O ce to pursue the
opportunity. The work started in 2015
in the wake of SDSR and represents a far
more mature approach than most had
expected. Partnerships will be key to the
UK, so all eyes will be on the Franco-
German camp and many will be lookingat the history books regarding how
projects like the Euro ghter evolved in
terms of international agreements and
disagreements.
For the UK, Tempest is being touted
as a Typhoon replacement. However,
this in itself throws a shadow over F-
procurement on two levels, despite
assurances that the overall buy of
138 Lightnings is still planned. With
48 F-35Bs sitting in the Joint Combat
Aircraft space, the remaining 90 F-35s
sit in FCAS. Many expected F-35As to
be acquired through the life of the
program to act as direct Typhoon
replacements. However, the Tempest
shows that the UK believes it needs a
tiered approach and that the F-35 alone
is not an acceptable solution.
It’s di cult to see how the UK
Combat Air Strategy would support
an overall order of 138 F-35s plus
the development and elding of the
Tempest. Government funding would
seemingly preclude this, even with
signi cant international partnerships.
With little wiggle-room to free up
resources, the few avenues to rectify
a budgetary black hole for Tempest
include a reduction in British F-
procurement and the cancellation of
the Anglo-French UCAV program.control and intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR), told Combat
Aircraft, ‘When it landed [here] it had
enough fuel remaining to return to the
US. This is our only test asset, this is
about building con dence... This was
own from North Dakota and made
an automatic take-o and landing.
We can taxi it via satcoms [satellite
communications] as well.’
The current program of record in the
UK calls for 16 air vehicles, but ‘more
than 20’ are expected. It will be armed
with two weapons, currently expectedto be MBDA’s Brimstone and Raytheon’s
Paveway IV. IOC for the Protector will be
achieved in 2023, pushed back from 2021
in order to meet budgetary constraints.
The second test aircraft has been
built, while the third will be the initial
production aircraft for the RAF and is
already in build. The Protector is based
on the SkyGuardian, adding a few
UK-speci c systems such as satellite
communications and weapons. It is a
generation ahead of the MQ-9 Reaper,
with increased levels of automation and
performance, including ‘sense and avoid’technology to assist with operations in
controlled airspace.
The Protector has, however, faced
recent criticism. A report from the
Infrastructure and Projects Authority
(IPA) stated, ‘...the IPA determined
that the General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems Inc (GA-ASI) Protector UAS
cannot be delivered on schedule or
on budget, rating it as Red [successful
delivery of the project appears to be
unachievable].’ Gale said the Protector
is shown as such because the o cial
program currently gives 2021 as the IOC
date, and that the re-baselining at 2023
for the reasons stated above will address
this issue.Above: A rear view
of the Tempest
mock-up reveals
vertical tails close
to the YF-
design.
Jamie Hunter
Below: Air
Commodore Ian
Gale is the senior
responsible
owner for
the Protector
program.
Jamie Hunterhttp://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 17
14-17 UK Combat Air C.indd 17 20/07/2018 15: