Is this the grandson of Novel Air Concept I wonder? Good to see MBDA starting to show what they can do on the UAV front- particularly as the line between weapon and delivery platform is so blurred at this end of the market.

The company that produced the Tempest mockup have now completed some revisions to it and the second mockup that has been made. They will be used in a global tour of defence exhibitions and air shows (etc) over the next couple of years.

First stop Belgium.

This according to an Instagram post on their site.

Whilst I agree that specific US contracts should not be mentioned in this context as proof that RR/BAE etc can do something, the fact that they were able to bid and participate indicates an advanced level of competency.

We often get into engineering level specifics in this kind of discussion, but to say that a company like RR is not capable of cutting edge engine work would be silly at best.
I’m not pointing fingers by the way.

I think we can all usefully ditch the 6th Generation term for any future discussions. It is very clear that no one organisation has a handle on what they want to do and how they plan to do it, so 6th generation will only continue as a usefuly term to promote YouTube videos of dubious quality.

Tempest is not using the EJ200.

The last few posts have just demonstrated that people have already made up their minds on what Tempest represents:

-The UK trying to buy into NGAD (despite a much broader demonstrator approach and funding compared to Replica).

-The UK is just trying to get Airbus to hold hands.

The Franco/German project is less advanced and likely to be delayed and messy.

My view is that the Tempest is actually what it says it is, making the most of the past 2 decades of BAE (etc) advanced demonstrator work and consistent with UK government policy as Jackonicko says. Why wouldn’t you buy in now? The programme will progress quicker and be less linked to broader foreign policy commitments than the US or Franco/German alternatives.

Oh and the engine is already developing around work for other projects that are already paid for.

Here you go, mrmalaya:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]262327[/ATTACH]

From AFM this month.

But isn’t that a totally pointless exercise in conjecture (putting old engines and missiles in with a shrunken sizing)? The more considered diagram of the mock-up I have seen (on SPforum) has the intakes starting behind the canopy and the overall length at least 1m longer than Paralay has it. It also works on the assumption that some sort of advanced engine/TV is in use rather than an engine designed for a 4th generation fighter.

Paralay, forgive me but you wouldn’t accept that sort of treatment for a Russian aircraft and your imagery will appear as valid on the internet, despite the fact this is an eyeball estimation of a mockup.

According to Tony Osborne on Twitter- LANCA the UK only affordable UCAV initiative is due for a flight demonstrator and aiming at low millions in cost.

Developing the loyal wingman alongside Tempest.