October 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Analysis from PwC, commissioned by BAE Systems on behalf of Team Tempest, the partnership behind the Tempest future combat air system programme has said that the project to develop a future fighter will contribute at least £25bn to the UK's economy and support an average of 20,000 jobs a year between 2026 and 2050.
Team Tempest is a partnership between BAE Systems, Leonardo, Rolls-Royce, MBDA and the Royal Air Force's (RAF) Rapid Capabilities Office, as well as a host of small-medium enterprises and academia.
Preliminary findings from the PwC report due to published in full later this year said that the programme including ‘R&D spillover' would add £25.3bn to the UK economy for the first 30 years of the programme and ‘support an average of circa 20,000 jobs every year between 2026 and 2050'.
The findings added that for every 100 people directly employed by Team Tempest, a further 270 would be employed across the UK.
BAE Systems director combat air acquisition programme Michael Christie said: “Tempest is an exciting and ambitious multi-decade programme that will help to preserve our national security whilst at the same time driving significant economic benefits for the UK.
“The initial analysis revealed today demonstrates that Tempest is critical to ensuring the UK can sustain its world-leading Combat Air Sector, preserving the sovereign capability that is essential to retaining military freedom of action for the UK.”
The economic benefits of the programme come alongside the release of more technical details about the future fighter by Team Tempest, which the consortium said can “capture the equivalent of a ‘city's worth of data' in a second”.
Tempest is expected to come into service in the mid-2030s and is set to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon within the RAF. The aircraft is set to form part of a broader combat air system that will likely include ‘wingman' uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).
ADS chief executive Paul Everitt added: “The Tempest programme is essential for our national security and future prosperity. The high-value design and groundbreaking engineering skills required for success will create a new generation of talent to drive UK industry.
“Defence programmes like Tempest offer an invaluable opportunity to secure a recovery from the current Covid-19 crisis. It will embed high-value design and manufacturing skills in the UK for decades to come, sustain thousands of high paying jobs and give apprentices the opportunity to build their career in an iconic programme with massive export potential.”
Team Tempest today also unveiled several insights into the programme including that Leonardo, the programme's electronics lead, was developing new radar systems capable of providing over 10,000 times more data than existing systems.
Leonardo director of major air programmes Iain Bancroft said: “The collaborative relationship between Team Tempest and our network of academic and SME partners enables us to bring together the ‘best of the best' engineering talent from across the UK. Crucially, we are embracing new ways of working as an integrated team to dramatically improve efficiency and pace – sharing intelligence and refining our concepts digitally to deliver innovations that will shape the next generation combat air system.
“Our new radar technology is a concrete example of the gains this approach has already brought, costing 25% less to develop while providing over 10,000 times more data than existing systems.”
The ‘Multi-Function Radio Frequency System' is slated as being able to collect data ‘equivalent to the internet traffic of a large city such as Edinburgh' every second.
The new sensor is described as providing a range of ‘abilities beyond traditional radar', with the company having already built complete sub-systems utilising the technology with a path set for airborne demonstrations in the ‘coming years'.
On top of this, BAE Systems said it had begun flight-testing components for the aircraft's ‘wearable cockpit' technology. The system will see physical controls in the aircraft replaced with ‘Augmented and Virtual Reality displays projected directly inside the visor of a helmet' allowing them to be configured to meet different missions.
A team from MBDA is also working on this technology to ensure the early introduction of weapons concepts. The MBDA team is also looking at how ‘weapons system information and operation' is optimised for pilots.
BAE Systems is also exploring the development of a ‘virtual co-pilot' that can take on and automate some of the pilot's responsibilities.
‘Psycho-physiological' technology is also being trialled to measure a pilot's physical and cognitive processes. BAE Systems said this would help better understand ‘increasing exertion, stress, workload and fatigue'. BAE Systems test pilots are currently trialling these technologies on the Typhoon aircraft.
Rolls-Royce is working on the programmes ‘advanced combustion system technology'. Team Tempest has said that the next-generation system will need to be ‘hotter than any previous platform' to increase the efficiency of Tempest's engines.
The engine manufacturer has also been working on advanced composite materials and additive manufacturing techniques, to produce lighter weight, denser components able to withstand higher temperatures than current parts.
https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/tempest-future-fighter-worth-25bn-to-uk-economy/
April 6, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Today’s UK defense cuts will enable long-term investments, but the strategy is not risk-free.
June 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Security
By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — In a move to bolster India's space warfare capabilities, the ruling National Democratic Alliance government has approved the creation of the Defence Space Research Organisation. DSRO will provide technical and research support to its parent organization, the Defence Space Agency. Last week, India's Cabinet Committee on Security, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the creation of DSRO to also develop space warfare systems and associated technology, according to a Ministry of Defence official. DSRO will be headed by a senior defense scientist who will lead a team of other scientists. The agency is expected to be operational by the end of this year. The organization is also charged with finding and implementing defense applications for India's entire spectrum of space technologies. In April, the government established the Defence Space Agency, or DSA, to command the space assets of the Army, Navy and Air Force, including the military's anti-satellite capability. The agency is also to formulate a strategy to protect India's interests in space, including addressing space-based threats. The MoD official noted that the creation of the two agencies is aimed at developing a multidimensional approach to using outer space for strategic purposes. The DSA will be headed by an Air Force vice marshal and will have a staff of 200 personnel from three wings of the armed forces, according to another MoD official. In addition, the DSA will seek input on space as a domain of warfare from the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Defence Research and Development Organization. India's existing military space agencies — including the Defence Imagery Processing and Analysis Centre, located in New Delhi, and the Defence Satellite Control Centre, located in Bhopal — will be merged with DSA. In March, India also conducted an anti-satellite test, which demonstrated its capability to shoot down satellites in space. https://www.defensenews.com/space/2019/06/12/india-to-launch-a-defense-based-space-research-agency/
February 26, 2021 | International, Aerospace
The move is seen as essential for Israel, as its older CH-53 Sea Stallion “Yasur” helicopters have been in use since the 1960s.