UK unveils ‘Tempest’ fighter jet model for post-Brexit era

Bloomberg

UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson unveiled a full-sized model of a new fighter plane at the Farnborough air show in a bid to show that the nation plans to remain a leading military power after Brexit.
Williamson announced $2.6 billion of government funding for a concept aircraft through 2025, when a final decision would be taken on the programme’s future.
The plane — nicknamed the Tempest — is a joint venture of Britain’s BAE Systems Plc and Rolls Royce Holdings Plc, Italy’s Leonardo SpA and the UK arm of MBDA, Europe’s biggest missile company.
The project could widen an emerging gap between current combat-plane partners, with Airbus SE, which developed the present-day Eurofighter model with BAE and Leonardo, having recently turned to Dassault Aviation SA of France to work on a next-generation aircraft. That move was encouraged by the French and German governments in the wake of the Brexit vote, with Airbus suggesting last year that it could leave Britain frozen out of future plans.
“We are entering a dangerous new era in warfare,” Williamson said, pulling a curtain off the silver and white fighter model and adding that the UK aims to “keep control of the air both at home and abroad.” He called for more details of the business case to be set out by the end of this year, with the ultimate goal for the aircraft to be operational in 2035.
The UK is in discussions with other countries about partnering on the project that would also maintain some 18,000 jobs at home. Suggestions include a pact with Sweden, where Saab AB makes the Gripen fighter, or possibly Japan and elsewhere
in Asia, where demand for
warplanes is increasing as China and India flex their military muscle.
The fighter concept plane is under development as part of Britain’s so-called Future Combat Air Strategy initiative by “Team Tempest,” formed of the four aerospace companies and the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capability Office.
Airbus defense chief Dirk Hoke said in an interview that the UK plan is a “natural follow up” to news of the Franco-German initiative, while adding that it’s wrong to assume that the Airbus-Dassault plan will end decades of cross-channel cooperation on warplane production.
“It should not exclude anyone,” he said. “This includes looking at where the competencies are beyond France and Germany, and this is of course the UK. To create a future combat air system without BAE, yes it’s possible, but it might be a system that’s not as good as it could be.”
European Union companies and politicians had begun to row back from suggesting that a so-called sixth-generation fighter could be built without Britain as plans for an independent UK option emerged.