BAE details some of the technologies being developed for its Tempest Flying Technology Demonstrator aircraft.
The United Kingdom has revealed some of the technologies being developed for the Flying Technology Demonstrator aircraft, which will support the Anglo-Japanese-Italian Tempest/Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
This demonstrator is due to fly in 2027, but testing of the aircraft’s escape system and of its engine and intake duct has already been completed, and ten pilots have now amassed 170 flying hours in 125 sorties, ‘flying’ the aircraft in the synthetic digital environment. This synthetic flying will provide the crucial evidence that will support real world live flight trials when they begin in 2027.
The decision to produce a Flying Technology Demonstrator in order to de-risk the main Tempest programme was announced by the UK Government in July 2022, five months before the launch of the GCAP, under which the UK, Japan and Italy will jointly develop the Tempest manned fighter that lies at the heart of the UK’s FCAS-TI (Future Combat Air System Technology Initiative) programme.
However, this is not a prototype for Tempest/GCAP, and may not even resemble the definitive production fighter, whose final configuration has not been decided.
The Demonstrator will be used to develop, facilitate and validate industrial technologies and capabilities, rather than the more operationally focused ones. As such, it will also help to produce the skills, tools, processes and techniques that will be needed to develop Tempest, getting UK industry and the partners ‘match fit’ for the future, and working collaboratively. The demonstrator programme will help the partners to develop the suitably qualified experienced personnel (SQEP) who will have to design and build the subsequent GCAP aircraft from scratch, and then certify and fly it.
Key Technologies
Some of the key technologies being exercised include digital model-based engineering, digital model-based design, digital design, advanced manufacturing and additive materials. Virtual Reality capabilities may also be incorporated.
The aircraft will also be used to test, evaluate and demonstrate key elements of the next generation combat air design, and will incorporate some low observability shaping techniques, similar to those that are likely to be employed on the Tempest platform, thereby exercising BAE Systems’ LO design capabilities, though the aircraft itself will not be stealthy. The canopy, for example, will be of conventional construction, and will incorporate MDC (miniature detonating cord), while stealth coatings are unlikely to be applied.
BAE Systems has now lifted the curtain of secrecy just a little to allow a glimpse at some of the technologies that are being developed and demonstrated.
A so-called hybrid rig uses four linked development ‘simulators’, one for the cockpit, one for the flight control system, one for computing and models, and another for the utility management system, employing a mix of hardware, emulators and digital models.
The cockpit incorporates a touchscreen Large Area Display (LAD) like that being developed for Typhoon, and uses a sidestick rather than a central control column, as well as haptic feedback. The cockpit rig is being used to develop, test and evaluate flying controls, flight control laws and displays, and will later be used for pilot training prior to the first flight.
BAE Systems’ engineers have used auto coding to create safety-critical systems software at unparalleled pace, taking a matter of days rather than weeks. This has enabled rapid assessment of changes to the flight control system, while capturing crucial data about how the jet will handle and perform, years before its actually flies.
Ten pilots have flown the rig so far, including four BAE Systems test pilots, and a team of six pilots from the Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) and the RAF’s No.41 Test and Evaluation Squadron.
Three intake ducts have been built at Samlesbury, Lancashire – two for the demonstrator aircraft, and one for the Rolls Royce test undertaken at Filton, Gloucestershire, from early November 2022 to mid-February 2023. The tests used the TP-14 test cell in which the Concorde’s Olympus engine was tested in the 1960s.
The full scale duct was fitted to an unmodified Eurojet EJ200 turbofan – sourced from a Royal Air Force (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoon. Testing was undertaken at a wide range of power settings, including reheat, and throttle slams and re-slams were conducted in order to stimulate fan responses. The engine performed as expected, without experiencing air distortion or resonance issues, and there is complete confidence that the engine/intake/duct will perform as advertised through the whole flight envelope.
The crew escape system test campaign started on 16 December 2021 with a static firing at Martin Baker’s factory airfield at Chalgrove, Oxfordshire. This was followed by a series of four sled test seat qualification firings at Langford Lodge in Northern Ireland, using an aerodynamically representative forward fuselage section mounted on a rocket-propelled sled. Firings were made at two speeds – 280 knots (518 kilometres per hour) and 450 kts (833km/h), using two different classes of mannequin. The class 1 mannequin represented a lightweight female pilot in summer flying gear, while the class 6 mannequin represented a heavy male pilot in winter kit.
“We are talking to our Italian and Japanese colleagues now about how we can embrace them on the demonstrator,” Neil Strang, BAE Systems’ Tempest programme director told Armada. “We want them to feel part of the demonstrator, to see what role could they play, and discussions are ongoing.”
by Jon Lake
